Wellington - Experts believe a meteorite, not space junk, was more likely the cause of flaming debris that narrowly missed a Lan Chile airliner over the South Pacific this week, according to news reports Friday.

New Zealand's Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) launched an inquiry into the incident after debris fell close to the Airbus A-340, carrying up to 300 people from Santiago to Auckland Tuesday night.

A Russian satellite falling out of orbit was originally blamed for the incident in which the jet was said to be only 40 seconds away from disaster.

The flight landed safely at Auckland Airport early Wednesday. The CAA inquiry is likely to take a month.