NASA speaks out on asteroid that is believed will destroy Earth in September

USA: NASA has launched a bid to squash "wild" speculation among conspiracy theorists who fear a huge asteroid will smash into Earth next month.

Doom-mongers claim a massive space rock will hit Puerto Rico some time between September 15 and 28.

This "enormous dinosaur-killer" of an asteroid will send a 300 ft tsunami rushing across the Atlantic, devastating much of England as well as Spain, Holland and most of the eastern seaboard of America.

Some 30 million people will die more or less immediately, whilst a further 40 million will perish as civil disorder sweeps the globe and society descends into anarchy.

Sounds pretty scary, doesn't it?

Happily, we're glad to say you don't have to start reciting your prayers just yet, because NASA has stepped in to halt the "unsubstantiated" rumours.

"There is no scientific basis - not one shred of evidence - that an asteroid or any other celestial object will impact Earth on those dates," said Paul Chodas, manager of NASA's Near-Earth Object office, which keeps an eye on potentially dangerous space rocks.

"If there were any object large enough to do that type of destruction in September, we would have seen something of it by now."

He claimed there was a 0.01% chance of a big-hitting asteroid smashing into earth in the next 100 years.

The latest rumours were apparently sparked by a preacher called Reverend Efrain Rodriguez, who predicted an asteroid was set to hit Earth.

He has been discussing his "asteroid prophecy" for about five years, although he has neglected to pin a date on his apocalypse predictions.

After the latest rumors began to circulate earlier this year, he said "only the Lord" could be sure when the space rock would wipe us all out.

"Only the father knows the date of the rapture," he wrote on Facebook.

"We must be ready at all times."