[meteorite-list] Hunt On For Meteorites In India

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:30:01 2004
Message-ID: <200309290148.SAA27370_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=32461

Hunt on for meteorite remains
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
September 28, 2003
 
BHUBANESWAR - The search for the remnants of the huge meteorite, which
sped across the sky in coastal Orissa last night by district authorities
continued today amid reports of villagers in Kendrapara district stumbling
upon two strange objects this morning.

Officials in Kendrapara said they had received reports about the findings in
Paschima Suniti and Benakanda villages under the coastal Mahakalapada block.
Efforts were on to retrieve the objects from the villages, they said.

Revenue Minister Biswabhushan Harichandan had last night directed the
collectors of all districts where the phenomenon had been sighted to inquire
and submit their reports to the government.

The villagers spotted the two stones in a paddy field, Gagan Bihari Pradhan,
the sarpanch of Suniti Gram Panchayat said. While the object at Benakanda
village was blown to smithereens, the one found at Paschima Suniti -
supposedly weighing 5.7 kg - had been preserved at the local panchayat office,
he said. The ball of fire, described by scientists as a meteorite, streaked
across the sky from west to east at about 6.30 pm yesterday and was witnessed
by people in at least 11 districts in the coastal belt.

Meanwhile, one of the 11 people admitted to hospitals in Kendrapara, Jajpur
and Mayurbhanj districts after witnessing the spectacle died in the SCB
Medical College Hospital at Cuttack today.

Sukadeb Singh (75), who along with two others, had been shifted from
Kendrapara hospital to Cuttack, died this morning, the sources said. Five
persons, including three from one family, were admitted to hospitals in
Jajpur district while three others were hospitalised in Mayurbhanj district.

People at Sudusudia village had claimed to have seen the ball of fire landing
on a thatched house in their village last evening. SP Y.B. Khurania said
preliminary investigations had not yielded any remnants of the suspected
meteor though the house had been completely burnt. The three persons who fell
unconscious after the incident were recovering in hospital. A 75-year-old man,
Harekrushna Behera, said he had lost his vision after seeing the fire.
Received on Sun 28 Sep 2003 09:48:47 PM PDT