Mobile phone company Tele2 said it was behind a hoax meteorite story which dominated headlines in Latvia yesterday.

The outfit's marketing department said it had dreamed up a purported meteorite strike in Latvia as a publicity stunt. Apparently the stunt had meant to "inspire Latvia" and give the world a rest from the economic crisis headlines about the Baltic state's economic crisis.

In a press release the firm said it would reimburse the cash-strapped emergency services who had rushed to the site. Interior Minister Linda Murniece dubbed the stunt a "cynical mockery" and said it would cost $4630 to pay for all the emergency teams and boffins who swarmed to the site.

Coppers warned that they would launch a criminal investigation if the alleged meteorite strike near the small northern Latvian town of Mazsalaca was a hoax. Boffins who rushed to the site thought that the 10-metre-wide crater had not been caused by a meteorite.

The spade marks gave it all away as meteorites are not renown for digging their own holes. (Except in Stalin's purges. sub.ed.)