1 dead after ‘meteorite’ crash outside Bharathidasan Engineering College in India

The bus driver was killed after an object exploded near him as he was walking past a building.

On Saturday, at around 12.30 hours, the Bharathidasan Engineering College at K Pantharappalli village near Natrampalli was rocked by a blast near the water tank. The man sustained serious injuries from the fallout and was pronounced dead on Saturday.

The 40-year-old driver, only named as Kamaraj, died on the way to hospital, while three other drivers were injured by splinters from the explosion. It created a small crater near the building complex.

While the government initially suspected that the driver had been killed in a bomb blast, forensic scientists could not find traces of explosives. The windscreens of the buses parked near the explosion site were also damaged.

‘We are convinced that it is a meteorite that fell with high velocity’. “It is not confirmed yet as samples need to be analysed”.

G. Baskar, the principal of the college in Vellore district, was working in his cabin when he heard an explosion.

The last reported death from a meteorite strike was in 1825, according to a list kept by International Comet Quarterly, a scientific journal.

Local reports state that the impact of the explosion shattered the window panes of classes and the wind screens of the buses parked in the campus.

Police personnel who recovered the stone said it was black in colour, irregular in shape and looked like “eeyam”.