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| Meteorite piece found in Vellore, Tamilnadu (@jsamdaniel) |
An Indian man has been killed by Meteorite in Vellore leaving a four-feet deep crater inside the Bharathidasan Engineering College campus.
The meteorite hit the Indian man at 12:30 p.m. local time (2 a.m. E.T.) Saturday, when the man was standing on the grass near the college's cafeteria located in Nattrampalli, Vellore District of Tamil Nadu. Meteorite also injured two gardeners and a student. A dark blue stone resembling a diamond was spotted at the scene.
According to NDTV, Tamil Nadu chief minister J
Jayalalithaa said a college bus driver was killed by the meteorite and
Rs. 1 lakh has been awarded in compensation to his family.
However, the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has yet to confirm whether the mysterious object is indeed a meteorite. If scientists confirm the explosion was due to a meteorite, it would be the first recorded human fatality due to a falling space rock in modern history.
The meteorite explosion broke window panes and windscreens of buses as well, The Times of India reported.
Meteorite strike in Russia in 2013 injured a thousand of people making it the largest recorded object to strike the Earth in more than a century.
Meteorite Strikes in India
Three interesting meteorite strikes have been recorded in India in last two centuries, based upon a list kept by International Comet Quarterly. A meteorite fall occurred in Oriang, Malwate in 1825. Two years later, a meteorite hit Mhow.
In 2003, meteorite shower was widely observed yielding numerous highly magnetic meteorites in Mayurbhanj, Orissa, India. No causalities or damages were reported.
About Asteroids, Meteors and Meteorites
-Asteroids orbits the Sun. They are small bodies.
-Planetoids or minor planets are also called large Asteroids.
-Once these Asteroids enter our planet's atmosphere, it becomes a Meteor.
-If any any of these Meteor impact our Earth, they become Meteorites.