CNN http://edition.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/asiapcf/south/09/28/india.meteorite/
Sunday, September 28, 2003 Posted: 1108 GMT ( 7:08 PM HKT)
BHUBANESWAR, India -- Two people have been injured and several homes badly damaged by a suspected meteorite crashing into a village in eastern India, reports said Sunday.
The fiery object crashed to earth shortly after sunset Saturday in the coastal state of Orissa, the Press Trust of India reported.
Witnesses reported a bright fireball briefly lighting up the night sky and causing panic among local residents, the PTI report said.
Reports from several districts described an ear spitting noise that shattered several windows as the object sped overhead.
At least one part of the fireball came down in a village in Mayurbhanj district, setting several homes alight and lightly injuring at least two people.
The report said other parts of the suspected meteorite may have crashed into another village, also setting at least one thatched house ablaze.
Officials in the area have been asked to collect any remaining samples of the object for scientific analysis.
The PTI quoted local meteorological and space experts as saying the object was most likely a meteor.
Hundreds of small objects strike the Earth's atmosphere every day, creating what are commonly known as shooting stars or, more properly, meteors.
However, all but a few burn up or explode well before they hit the ground as a result of the friction caused by entering the Earth's atmosphere at speeds in excess of 10,000 kilometers an hour.
Those few rocks that do survive the fiery journey are known as meteorites.
Last Updated: Sunday, 28 September, 2003, 17:39 GMT 18:39 UK
BBC
Meteorite wrecks houses in India
At least 20 people are reported to have been injured after a meteorite crashed to Earth in eastern India.
Reports say hundreds of people in the state of Orissa panicked when the fireball streamed across the sky.
Burning fragments were said to have fallen over a wide area, destroying several houses.
An official in Orissa said the authorities were assessing the damage and trying to recover what was left of the meteor.
Reports from Kendrapara district in Orissa, where the meteor came to Earth, said windows rattled as it passed overhead.
"It was all there for just a few seconds but it was like daylight everywhere," one resident said.
Rarity
Experts estimate about 100 tons of extraterrestrial dust grains fall to earth each day.
Occasionally, a dark pebble or fist-size object will rain down, with boulder-sized objects or bigger being a historical rarity.
The only recorded fatality from a meteor was an Egyptian dog that had the bad luck to be in the wrong place at the wrong time in 1911.
Seven decades later, scientists recognised the dog had been struck by a meteorite from Mars.
Kendrapara, formerly also known as Orissa.
An H4-5.
