Crater
© The HinduThe crater formed after the object, believed to be a meteorite, fell on the campus of Bharathidasan Engineering College, near Natrampalli, in Vellore on Saturday.
En person blev dræbt mens tre andre såredes da et objekt der menes at være en meteorit faldt på et privat universitetsområde tæt på Natrampalli i Vellore distriktet i det nordlige Tamil Nadu tidlig Lørdag morgen.

Ifølge kilder ved politiet, hørtes et højlydt brag ved en vandtank lidt efter midnat på Bharathidasan Engineering Colleges område premises i landsbyen K.Bandarappalli. Kamaraj, en universitesansat, der var gået ud for at drikke vand led alvorlige skader og erklæredes død da han blev taget til Vaniyambadi regeringens hospital. Tre andre led mindre legemsbeskadigelse. Vinduer og forruder i busser der holdt parkeret i nærheden, samt vandtanken knustes i indslaget. Et krater blev dannet på stedet.

Der var mistanke om en bombe eksplosion, men indledende kriminaltekniske undersøgelser viser ingen tegn på nogen form for sprængstof på indslags-stedet. Der blev fundet stykker af en sjælden stenart og der blev taget prøver til ekspert analyse.


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"We can rule out the possibility of any terror angle or sabotage. Not a single ingredient pertaining to any kind of explosive was found at the site. We suspect it to be a meteorite fall," a top police official told The Hindu on Saturday. After a similar blast was reported in a paddy field at Alangayam in the same district on January 26, a senior Astrophysicist of the National Physical Laboratory, Ahmedabad, came to the district for a study.

"The scientist was camping nearby and rushed to the college soon after hearing the news of the blast. We are convinced that it is a meteorite that fell with high velocity. In the earlier incident, local people remember having seen an object falling from the sky in the field," the official said.

A special team of the Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad, led by Deputy Superintendent of Police Asir Vijay Kumar, inspected the scene and ruled out the use of grenades. Vellore Superintendent of Police Senthilkumari also visited the spot. Investigators were trying to check if the college had any CCTV camera covering the disturbed area.