Indian authorities inspect the site of a suspected meteorite landing on February 7, 2016 in Vellore district in southern Tamil Nadu. Forensics and security experts who investigated the crash site reportedly found no trace of explosives.
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Expressing her heartfelt condolences to members of the bereaved family, Jayalalithaa also announced an assistance of Rs 25,000 each to the three injured in the explosion. “While the driver died, three others were injured”, a police official said.
According to local reports, a bus driver was killed on Saturday when a meteorite landed in the area where he was walking, damaging the window panes of nearby buses and buildings.
A district official, who asked not to be named, told Reuters that, “when no evidence of explosive material was found, we moved to the theory that it might be a meteorite”.
A similar incident was reported at Alangayam, also in the Vellore district, late last month. For example, meteorites have landed in homes and hit people as they have slept, but have not killed them. The man sustained serious injuries from the fallout and was pronounced dead on Saturday.
The explosion had left a crater in the ground.
This led to a statement from Tamil Nadu’s colorful chief minister, Jayalalithaa Jayaram.
Meteorites are pieces of rock or metal that fall to earth from outer space.
According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, there is no record “in modern times of any person being killed by a meteorite”.
When a meteoroid enters the Earth’s atmosphere it burns up, often seen as the light phenomenon known as a shooting star.
S. P. Rajaguru, assistant professor at the Indian Astrophysics Institute in Bangalore, said the rock could be a meteorite but further tests were needed.
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The explosion damaged many glass planes of the college buildings, official sources said.
