  We report the discovery for the first time of diatom frustules in a
carbonaceous meteorite that fell in the North Central Province of Sri Lanka on
29 December 2012. Contamination is excluded by the circumstance that the
elemental abundances within the structures match closely with those of the
surrounding matrix. There is also evidence of structures morphologically
similar to red rain cells that may have contributed to the episode of red rain
that followed within days of the meteorite fall. The new data on fossil diatoms
provide strong evidence to support the theory of cometary panspermia.
