back to article Reports: First death from meteorite impact recorded in India

One man is dead and three injured following a reported meteorite strike in India. Indian media report police officials saying the death was the result of an explosion on university grounds in the Southern town of Vellore that shattered windows and killed the unnamed bus driver. If confirmed it would be the first recorded …

  1. Steven Roper

    Law of averages

    Had to happen sooner or later. Naturally it happened in one of the most crowded areas on the planet. At least that bus driver will be immortalised in the history books...

    Pity it didn't happen in Russia though, then we could have said, "In Soviet Russia, moon lands on you!"

    1. a_yank_lurker

      Re: Law of averages

      Tunguska in 1908 was a big blast and probably killed numerous people. The Law of Averages says this has happened before but just not recorded.

      1. Pascal Monett Silver badge

        The Tunguska event was quite a big blast, but it did not kill many because it happened above a (very) sparsely-populated area - which is probably why it took a decade to get the first recorded expedition to find out what happened.

      2. TimeMaster T

        Re: Law of averages

        IIRCC The Tunguska event is currently believed to have been cause by a cometary fragment, so technically not a "meteorite".

        Also, while this might indeed be first Human death, lets not forget about the Dinosaurs :)

      3. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

        Re: Law of averages

        "The Law of Averages says this has happened before but just not recorded."

        No doubt others have suffered "death by meteorite, but the whole point of the article is about the first "recorded" death by meteorite (if confirmed in this case)

    2. allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

      Re: Law of averages

      If it had hapened in Russia, there would be some dashcam video of it...

      No, I'm with Big John and inmypjs on this, the whole thing seems rather dodgy.

    3. WalterAlter
      Mushroom

      Law of Zap

      There is every likelihood that the meteor picked up charge passing through the Earth's magnetosphere and discharged suddenly when it came close to the Earth's surface before impact. Astronomers puzzle over how the Tunguska meteor event in Siberia in 1907 could have blasted 60 square miles of forest to the ground yet not have left a massive crater. Proponents of the Electric Universe theory would explain that there was a massive discharge that caused the forest's destruction and disintegrated the meteorite before it stuck the ground. More on EU theory at thunderbolts dot com.

    4. GX5000
      Devil

      Re: Law of averages

      That terrible jk......have an up vote,

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Fishy

    The alleged meteorite image is out of focus. Also a meteorite cannot make much of a crater falling at terminal velocity, so to get a 3 foot crater requires that the meteor shed almost all of it's high velocity, but still have just enough to make the crater, and also be within a narrow mass range. The tolerances for such an event are tight, making it extremely rare.

    Finally there are plenty of things here on earth that can explode like that. I would bet this is a false report or hoax.

    1. inmypjs Silver badge

      Re: Fishy

      Yep, I am not convinced it is possible for a meteorite that size to impact at more than terminal velocity which wouldn't create a crater or kill anyone without actually hitting them (in which case I can't see injury to others).

      If someone really is dead then maybe someone is trying to cover up murder or a prank that went wrong.

    2. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

      Re: Fishy

      ...and of all the places it could happen,this on university grounds.

      Students are will known for pranks and things that go bang. Maybe something went wrong.

  3. fnj

    Ludicrous false claim

    This is VERY FAR from the only recorded human deaths due to meteors. There is an extensive list of fatalities here.

    1. allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

      Re: Ludicrous false claim

      Thanks for the interesting link!

      I'd like to see the sources for the listed '1420 BC Israel - Fatal meteorite impact' event though.

    2. Jonathan Richards 1

      OT Re: Ludicrous false claim

      Thank you for the link, it's good to know that somebody has done some decent anecdote collection.

      But... my eyes! my eyes! I haven't had to read orange on black since I elected to have that colour scheme on a DEC VT320, circa 1987. The site colour scheme brought it all flooding back: the hours writing extensions to EVE...

      1. Captain Badmouth
        Happy

        Re: OT Ludicrous false claim

        "But... my eyes! my eyes! I haven't had to read orange on black since I elected to have that colour scheme on a DEC VT320, circa 1987."

        Still running opera 12 here with image control on the taskbar - High contrast B/W. - and for that tab only.

        simples.

  4. Mephistro
    Devil

    Meteorite, natural gas explosion or meth lab? Having happened in India we'll never know for sure. ;-)

  5. This post has been deleted by its author

  6. Mark 85

    What are the odds?

    The authorities reported there was another meteorite strike in January.

    Oh wait... there's this comment to the article: A beautiful administration in Vellore by the collector Nanthagopal that a woman even committed suicide on the premises of the collectorate....for the administration's callousness....Aatha going to win the elections in Vellore, even the Gods are not happy with the administration in Vellore, they are throwing meteors at Vellore....

    Maybe what I bolded explains it.. <rolling eyes>

  7. This post has been deleted by its author

  8. Grikath

    Karma...

    That bus driver must have had some serious demerits then...

    1. Turtle

      Re: Karma...

      "That bus driver must have had some serious demerits then..."

      Don't we all...

      1. DropBear

        Re: Karma...

        If we all did and that would be the usual form of payback, this wouldn't be news.

        1. allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

          Re: Karma...

          We all do*, and if this was the usual form of payback we'd all be living underground.

          *An aspect of the human condition, really.

  9. TRT Silver badge

    A private engineering college...

    Possibly with an experimental plastic moulding unit... I'm not accepting any plastic daffodils stamped "Made In India" from anyone.

  10. Jungleland
    Devil

    anyoe seen....

    amanfrommars today?

  11. David Pollard

    Spores from space?

    Many will be awaiting with eager anticipation the latest conjectures from Chandra Wickramasinghe and Milton Wainwright.

    http://miltonwainwright.com/panspermia-life-in-space/

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Trollface

    Karma Karma Karma...

    "And then, one Thursday, nearly two thousand years after one man had been nailed to a tree for saying how great it would be to be nice to people for a change, a bus driver sitting on his own in a small cafe in Vellore suddenly realized what it was that had been going wrong all this time, and he finally knew how the world could be made a good and happy place. This time it was right, it would work, and no one would have to get nailed to anything.

    Sadly, however, before he could get to a phone to tell anyone about it, a terrible stupid catastrophe occurred, and the idea was lost for ever."

    -Douglas Adams Mostly

  13. Martin
    FAIL

    First fatility?

    The dinosaurs might argue with you about that, except that they all died as a result of a meteorite strike 65 million years ago.

    First human fatality, perhaps. Though that rather dazzling web site referenced above seems to indicate that even that statement is dubious.

  14. Eclectic Man Silver badge

    Struck by a meterorite (almost)

    Several decades ago, while looking our of my open bedroom window, I was almost struck by a meteorite, a very small one (about the size of a pea). I expect that many people have been hit by a meteorite and not realised or even noticed it.

    It does however seem strange that a meteorite of the size mentioned in the article could have caused a fatality in this way.

    As for Karma, we do not know the location of the deceased's spirit, maybe he has achieved Nirvana, and the meteorite death was a quick way for the Gods to show their satisfaction and joy, leaving the rest of us here to suffer a little longer.

  15. Dr Patrick J R Harkin

    "This is President Obama calling from the White House."

    Mr Willis, your government needs your skills for a very important assignment.

    What? No, of course I know that was a movie and we haven't got the technology to do anything about the planet killer headed our way. I need you to appear in some TV footage which makes it look like we do. We're calling it Project Apollo Eleven Part 2...

  16. David Pollard

    Filming on Lambeth bridge?

    With details of the film being made of a bus exploding on Lambeth bridge streaming onto the intertubes, this is just the sort of story the viral marketers would be likely put out. There would be an interesting research project for somebody to chart the content of and links to sites that provide 'news' about the 'meteorite'.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-35516697

  17. Crazy Operations Guy

    North Koreans?

    I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out to a piece of that 'satellite' that the DPRK launched the other day, or at least a piece of the rocket itself that fell back to earth post-launch.

  18. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Probably a bit too early to be associated with the asteroid thats going to slalom through the geocentric satellites next month.

  19. Anonymous Coward
    Devil

    Yeah, you guys can act all calm and stuff...

    But what happens when the bus driver rises from the grave and starts biting people!!

    The zombie apocalypse is upon us.

  20. Yer Mother You Will

    That's one way of keeping the number of buses off the road.

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