Parts of a defunct German research satellite have returned to Earth and likely fallen into the Bay of Bengal, east of India, the chair of the German Aerospace Centre says.

Johann Dietrich-Woerner told CBC News on Sunday that the biggest piece could be 1.6 metric tonnes.

Scientists have been trying to establish how and where the satellite returned to the Earth, after warning that some parts might survive re-entry and crash at up to 450 kilometres per hour.

There was no immediate solid evidence to determine where exactly the satellite entered the atmosphere, indicating it did not hit a populated area, said Andreas Schuetz, spokesman for the German Aerospace Center.

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