DEBRIS from the space shuttle Columbia rained down onto fields, highways and a cemetery in Texas on Saturday, sending dozens of residents to hospitals after they handled the smouldering metal wreckage.

INVESTIGATORS were last night focusing on Columbia’s left wing as they tried to determine what destroyed the space shuttle, killing all seven astronauts on board.

One focus of attention in the investigation into the tragic loss of the space shuttle Columbia is possible damage to its protective thermal tiles on the left wing from a flying piece of debris during lift-off on January 16.