Large Meteorite Falls on Peruvian Village and Sickens People

In a scene typically witnessed in a movie, residents of the Puno village in the Desaguadero region of Peru suddenly got sick after a large meteorite struck and left a hundred-foot-wide and twenty-foot-deep crater. Experts and rescue workers were dispatched to the impact site where people witnessed boiling water coming out of the crater. There were also reports of rock and cinder particles in the area.

Residents thought an airplane had crashed after people saw an explosion and a fireball. They then complained of a strange odor which caused them to vomit and get nauseated. Policemen who went to investigate had to be given oxygen to breathe and were later hospitalized. Much about the fumes and the meteorite that caused them are still a mystery as of press time. The meteorite is likely part of the Perseid shower which comes from comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle, which is in an orbit that is expected to intersect that of Earth's, although not in the next thousand years. The photo of Swift-Tuttle above is by Gerald Rhemann.

For more news and a video of the impact site, jump to i-Mash.