Panic grips parts of the state.
By Dileep Thekkethil
BENGALURU: Many people in Kerala have reportedly seen a fireball falling from the sky on Friday night, which is likely to be a meteor or part of a Chinese rocket that burned up on hitting the earth’s atmosphere.
The fireball was visible in different parts of the state, only to disappear moments later. People who witnessed the unnatural event were gripped in fear as they thought it to have hit the ground. The fireball left behind orange trail as it descended.
Earlier in the week, a similar incident was reported from the United States where people in Arizona saw a fireball falling from the sky which was later confirmed by NASA as the junk body from a Chinese rocket.
After the initial panic, people started posting images of the unidentified object on social media. However, Minister Adoor Prakash has ordered for an investigation on the matter and requested the residents not to panic.
Panic grips parts of the state.
Fire ball on #Kerala sky.! Followed by earthquake like feeling. Possible sonic boom followed by a meteorite explosion pic.twitter.com/V4rLKHzG0m
— Josey Devan YNWA LFC (@indophilia) February 27, 2015
The unusual phenomenon reportedly happened at around 10:30 local time and lasted for not more than a few seconds in many parts of Kerala, including Ernakulam, Vypin, Paravoor, Kolenchery, Fort Kochi, Willington Island, Thrissur, Palakkad, Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Kozhikode, Malappuram and Kannur.
Some people reportedly felt tremors during the fireball activity but this has been denied by the district collector of Kochi.
In a similar incident, a near-Earth asteroid that entered Earth’s atmosphere over Russia on February 15, 2013 exploded midway causing widespread damages to property and injuring many. If this meteor had touched down, it could have produced 20–30 times more energy than was released from the atomic bomb detonated at Hiroshima.
1 Comment
I saw a waterfall of fire falling from the sky.As it happened around 10pm & it extended almost 10 seconds.Amazing sight it was.