[meteorite-list] Peru 'Meteorite' Update

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed, 19 Sep 2007 17:14:05 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <200709200014.RAA12526_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=482636&in_page_

Meteor crash leaves 66ft crater - and hundreds feeling sick
By DAVID DERBYSHIRE
The Daily Mail (United Kingdom)
September 19, 2007

It has all the hallmarks of a 1950s B-movie - a remote location,
mysterious lights in the sky, a crater that appeared from nowhere, and a
disease that spread like the plague through locals.

But this is no science fiction film. Officials in Peru yesterday
revealed that 200 people had fallen sick after an object from space
crashed into the south of the country over the weekend.

The incident has echoes of The Andromeda Strain - the Michael Crichton
thriller in which a crashed satellite brings an extra-terrestrial plague
to the Earth.

While no scientists are seriously suggesting that aliens are to blame,
the incident has left many baffled.

On Saturday morning locals saw a fireball plummeting from the sky and
heard it smash into the desolate Andean plain close to Carancas, near
the Bolivian border.

Believing a plane had crashed, they raced to the site to discover a
crater around 66ft wide and 16ft deep.

Soon after, many began to complain of headaches, vomiting and sore
throats. Farm animals were also affected - left staggering, gasping and
with eyes watering.

By Tuesday, 200 people were ill, said Jorge Lopez, the director of the
local health department, who blamed a meteorite. "This is caused by the
gas they have inhaled after the crash," he said.

The mystery deepened when local news reports said two "calcium
life-forms" were found in the crater.

One excited radio reporter said: "They think they've found spacemen."

The bodies turned out to be the remains of dead animals buried before
the object hit.

"We are all very worried," said villager Jorge Ballestas. "People wonder
if it is safe to drink the water, or eat the food."

An engineer from the Peruvian Nuclear Energy Institute said no radiation
had been detected.

Scientists from San Andres University in La Paz said analysis of sand
samples from the crater showed it could be a meteorite which was blasted
to dust by the impact.

However, other meteor experts are unconvinced. Dr Caroline Smith of the
Natural History Museum in London, said: "It's the third incident like
this in Peru in the last few years - and none have turned out to be
meteorites.

"It's far more likely to have a been caused by the explosion of gases
that build up naturally under the ground.

"In that part of Peru, you might get a build up of methane or hydrogen
sulphide, both of which have an eggy smell and which could cause health
problems."

She suspects the light in the sky seen around the time of the crash was
unrelated and was probably caused by a fireball - a large meteor that
produces a spectacular display as it burns up in the sky.

Each year, up to 60,000 tons of debris from space hits the Earth.
Scientists know of 34,000 meteorites that have landed.

Most are harmless, although occasionally large rocks can be devastating.

In 1908, a large meteorite exploded in the atmosphere above Siberia. The
explosion was as powerful as 1,000 atomic bombs and felled 80 million trees.
Received on Wed 19 Sep 2007 08:14:05 PM PDT