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Falling meteorite piece lights up skies

By Prafulla Das

BHUBANESWAR SEPT. 27. Panic gripped several coastal Orissa districts this evening when people saw a huge ball of fire falling from the sky, lighting up the entire region. The phenomenon, which lasted about 10 seconds, was caused by the disintegration of a big chunk of meteorite around 6.30 p.m.

People in the coastal districts of Khurda, Puri, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Jajpur, Balasore, Bhadrak and Mayurbhanj witnessed the phenomenon. Several people thought that there had been an air strike. Unconfirmed reports soon started pouring in from different areas that portions of the meteorite had fallen at different places.

It was confirmed by the administration officials that two houses were burnt in Surusuria village in Kaptipada area of Mayurbhanj district around the time when the shooting star was seen falling.

According to Jayadev Kar, senior scientist at the Pathani Samanta Planetarium here, meteorites are of asteroid as well as comet origin. "But today's typical piece appeared to be of asteroid origin," he said.

Compounding the mystery of the incident was the landing of a remote-controlled toy plane in Saheed Nagar in the city about 15 minutes before the ball of fire lit up the evening sky.

Police rushed to the spot and seized the plane, which reportedly belonged to the NCC. A large number of curious onlookers thronged the place only to be told that the falling of the plane had nothing to do with the celestial blaze.

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