Officials confirm "Kryptonite" meteorite Crashed in Peru
Pastor Dale Morgan
Officials confirm "Kryptonite" meteorite Crashed in Peru*
* Story Highlights
* NEW: Officials confirm a meteorite crashed in southern Peru
* Fiery ball seen falling from the sky and smashing into the Andean
plain
* Hundreds say they have suffered headaches, nausea and breathing
problems
* Experts say toxic dust or gas released on impact probably to blame
for sickness
LIMA, Peru (AP) -- A fiery meteorite crashed into southern Peru over the
weekend, experts confirmed Wednesday.
A crater is some 65 feet wide and 15 feet deep after a meteorite
reportedly fell in southern Peru.
But they were still puzzling over claims that it gave off fumes that
sickened 200 people.
Witnesses told reporters that a fiery ball fell from the sky and smashed
into the desolate Andean plain near the Bolivian border Saturday morning.
Jose Mechare, a scientist with Peru's Geological, Mining and
Metallurgical Institute, said a geologist had confirmed that it was a
"rocky meteorite," based on the fragments analyzed.
He said water in the meteorite's muddy crater boiled for maybe 10
minutes from the heat and could have given off a vapor that sickened
people, and scientists were taking water samples.
"We are not completely certain that there was no contamination," Mechare
said.
Jorge Lopez, director of the health department in the state where the
meteorite crashed, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that 200 people
suffered headaches, nausea and respiratory problems caused by "toxic"
fumes emanating from the crater, which is some 65 feet wide and 15 feet
deep.
But a team of doctors sent to the isolated site, 3½ hours travel from
the state capital of Puno, said they found no evidence the meteorite had
sickened people, the Lima newspaper El Comercio reported Wednesday. See
where the meteorite landed »
Modesto Montoya, a member of the team, was quoted as saying doctors also
had found no sign of radioactive contamination among families living
nearby, but had taken blood samples from 19 people to be sure.
He said fear may have provoked psychosomatic ailments.
"When a meteorite falls, it produces horrid sounds when it makes contact
with the atmosphere," he told the paper. "It is as if a giant rock is
being sanded. Those sounds could have frightened them."
Justina Limache, 74, told El Comercio that when she heard the thunderous
roar from the sky, she abandoned her flock of alpacas and ran to her
small home with her 8-year-old granddaughter. She said that after the
meteorite struck, small rocks rained down on the roof of her house for
several minutes and she feared the house was going to collapse.
advertisement
Meteor expert Ursula Marvin said that if people were sickened, "it
wouldn't be the meteorite itself, but the dust it raises."
A meteorite "wouldn't get much gas out of the Earth," said Marvin, who
has studied the objects since 1961 at the Smithsonian Astrophysical
Observatory in Cambridge, Massachusetts. "It's a very superficial thing."