ARTICLE: Meteor in Peru

The Hill Billy

Report on BBC News site of meteor strike in Peru causing sikness amongst locals. Link.

Article

BBC News wrote:

Scores ill in Peru 'meteor crash'

The crater has been spewing fetid gases, reports say. Hundreds of people in Peru have needed treatment after an object from space - said to be a meteorite - plummeted to Earth in a remote area, officials say.

They say the object left a deep crater after crashing down over the weekend near the town of Carancas in the Andes.

People who have visited scene have been complaining of headaches, vomiting and nausea after inhaling gases.

A team of scientists is on its way to the site to collect samples and verify whether it was indeed a meteorite.

'Afraid'

"It [the object] is buried in the earth," local resident Heber Mamani told the BBC.

"That is why we are asking for an analysis because we are worried for our people. They are afraid. A bull is dead and some other animals are already sick," he said.

The incident began on Saturday night, when people near Carancas in the Puno region, some 1,300km (800 miles) south of Lima, reported seeing a fireball in the sky coming towards them.

The object then hit the ground, leaving a 30m (98ft) wide and 6m (20ft) deep crater.

The crater spewed what officials described as fetid, noxious gases.

An engineer from the Peruvian Nuclear Energy Institute told the AFP news agency no radiation had been detected from the crater and ruled out the fallen object being a satellite.

Renan Ramirez said: "It is a conventional meteorite that, when it struck, produced gases by fusing with elements of the terrain."

The gases are believed to have affected the health of hundreds of people who visited the site.

Most of the victims have been complaining of headaches, vomiting and nausea.

Honorio Campoblanco, one of Peru's leading geologists, called on the authorities to stop people going near the crash site.

Dr Pepper

I know some people were ill (and hopefully none seriously or permanently) but I couldn't help thinking when I read this... "Wow, Cooooool !!". Crater 30m wide and 6m deep. Love to have seen that one!

User45701

ye i actually come to this forum to post about it.

Well tbh its a pittty it was just gas ect, and a conventional metoririte, if it had been some form of exterrestrial biological organism (virus or infection) it would have 100% of life outside our solar system, i got very excited once i heard about people getting sick, obsivally i did not want anyone to die or suffer but the implications where emense

The Hill Billy

Update on Peru meteor impact from New Scientist here.