Incoming! Meteor Crash in Peru?

[Kieran]

Hundreds Sick In Peru After 'Meteor' Crash
2007-09-18 07:13pm
http://www.newsroomamerica.com/leadstory/story.php?id=392483

Hundreds of people have become sick in a remote area of Peru after visiting the area where an object from space has crashed, reports say.

The BBC reports some 600 people have required hospital treatment after the object, believed to be a meteorite, crashed near the remote town of Carancas in the Andes at the weekend.

The incident reportedly began on Saturday night when people near Carancas reported a fireball from the sky hitting the ground, leaving a 30 metre wide and 6 metre deep crater.

Reports say the crater is spewing stinking and noxious gases, and people who visited the scene have developed headaches, vomiting and nausea after breathing in the gases.

The BBC says a team of scientists is heading to the site to collect samples and try to verify what the object is, which is apparently buried at the bottom of the crater.

A local resident, Heber Mamani, told the BBC that locals are afraid and a bull has died and other animals are sick.

AFP news agency quoted officials as saying no radiation had been detected at the crater and they had ruled out the fallen object being a satellite.

(c) NewsRoom 2007

Is it time to holler: “INCOMING!”

But then, Laura has already been doing that for some time –

“Fireballs And Meteorites”
http://fireballs-meteorites.blogspot.com/2007_05_01_archive.html

And … as is about ‘par for the course’ on anything to do with other than ‘Pop Idol’, ‘Paris Hilton’ or ‘basketball’ … not many people appear to be interested!

And yet you can just hear the screams when the day/night arrives that fireballs are lighting up the sky from horizon to horizon: “What’s happening? Why did no-one tell us?”

Kieran

 

[mugatea]

The BBC website are trying to downplay it and even suggest it wasnt a meteor.

"Increasingly we think that people witnessed a fireball, which are not uncommon, went off to investigate and found a lake of sedimentary deposit, which may be full of smelly, methane rich organic matter," said Dr Caroline Smith, a meteorite expert at the London-based Natural History Museum.

"This has been mistaken for a crater."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7001897.stm

jamie

 

[ScioAgapeOmnis]

Interesting that the article mentions people being sick after the meteor and a bull dying. Reminded me of this session:

Q: (L) What was the origin of the Minoan civilization?
A: Atlantean descendants.
Q: (L) What was "bull leaping?"
A: A test, a sport, a religious rite.
Q: (L) When Thera blew, it seems to have destroyed all the Minoan cities except for Knossos.
A: Thera was result of close passage by Maldek. Knossos was not destroyed because structures were fundamentally
stronger and blast wave was perpendicular. Underground shelters saved a few of the people.
Q: (L) Knossos lasted for about another 75 years after the events which destroyed most of the Minoan civilization. What
were the events which brought about the final downfall of the Minoans?
A: Meteor borne parasites. Meteor destroyed city.

 

[mugatea]

Yeah that is interesting. I also think what is interesting is where the water came from. Did it come from the ground or was this a piece of comet?

Jamie

 

[Kieran]

The BBC website are trying to downplay it and even suggest it wasn’t a meteor.

"Increasingly we think that people witnessed a fireball, which are not uncommon, went off to investigate and found a lake of sedimentary deposit, which may be full of smelly, methane rich organic matter," said Dr Caroline Smith, a meteorite expert at the London-based Natural History Museum.

"This has been mistaken for a crater."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7001897.stm

Oh dear!

Those ‘experts’ again!

said Dr Caroline Smith, a meteorite expert at the London-based Natural History Museum

Well, let’s not forget the layman’s definition when we break the word ‘expert’ down phonetically:

‘X’ = an ‘unknown’ or ‘variable’

‘Spurt’ = a drip under pressure.

Reminds me of the ‘experts’ clarifying UFO sightings for us as ‘marsh gas’ or ‘escaped weather balloons!’

Here is a good one in which the ‘experts’ were caught out!

NASA boffins who hailed a British lad’s photo as a dramatic snap of an exploding meteor were exposed as duffers last night.

Jonathan Burnett, 15, had emailed them a picture of what looked like the trail of a blazing meteor.

NASA saluted it as “Astronomy Picture of the Day” on their website. But other experts spotted it for what it really was — SUNLIGHT reflecting off the white trail of a jet.

Robin Scagell, of Britain’s Society for Popular Astronomy, said: “The trail must have been a spectacular sight but it clearly was not a meteor.

Get that?

But other experts spotted it for what it really was — SUNLIGHT reflecting off the white trail of a jet.

Oh well. That’s settled then. Not a meteor because ‘the experts’ identified it ‘FOR WHAT IT REALLY WAS’!!!!

Robin Scagell, of Britain’s Society for Popular Astronomy [note the ‘important’ credentials … I mean this is not just ‘nobody’ when it comes to meteors, but really ‘somebody’. Obviously one of those experts! – my insert], said: “The trail must have been a spectacular sight but it clearly was not a meteor.”

To take some of the sting out of his 'debunking' of the foolish schoolboy’s enthusiasm (probably brought on by an overload of testosterone at that age!) ‘Robin Scagell, of Britain’s Society for Popular Astronomy’ (does the name 'Popular Astronomy' sound just a tad familiar? 'Popular Mechanics' springs unaccountably to mind! Lol!) added:

"It was not a hoax and Jonathan is not to blame — he did the right thing in sending his snapshot to NASA."

"It is surprising NASA jumped to the conclusion this was a meteor before they examined other possibilities."

The space agency had told Jonathan, of Pencoed, South Wales, that his picture showed a sofa-sized meteor exploding in a fireball.

Yesterday, they admitted getting it horribly wrong.[...]

Stupid schoolboy!

Slapped wrist for NASA!

What a relief we have such ‘EXPERTS’ to rely upon ….

And others jumped in to re-inforce ‘Robin Scagell, of Britain’s Society for Popular Astronomy’ EXPERT analysis and conclusion:

But the latest in a long line of explanations comes from aircraft enthusiast Mike Stradling, who claims 15-year-old Jonathan Burnett actually took a picture of supersonic Concorde and not a galactic space rock.

Mr Stradling, from Brackla, near Bridgend, said Concorde regularly flew over South Wales on its flight path to and from the United States. He said the flames and long smoke trail were from the jet's engines hitting full power.

And there it may have ended … with the public fooled and calmed yet again ….

…. BUT ….

Digital snap backs up meteor story
http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0200wales/content_objectid=13476370_method=full_siteid=50082_headline=-Digital-snap-backs-up-meteor-story-name_page.html

Oct 3 2003
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's a meteor - and although he didn't know it at the time that's exactly what Julian Heywood snapped on his digital phone in Porthcawl.

The sight of the blazing meteor was striking enough for the 27-year-old Scotsman to whip out his phone and point. Then, after reading about the 'bogus' meteor shot taken by Pencoed's Jonathan Burnett, Julian knew he had just the thing to back up the schoolboy's story. [...]

And just note the snide belittling tone of the above admission:

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's a meteor - and although he didn't know it at the time[…]

Didn’t know it at the time?

I guess he is still a ‘stupid schoolboy!’

OF COURSE HE KNEW IT AT THE TIME!

That’s why he sent his photograph to NASA!

Anyone with a still functioning brain can see what it almost certainly is! And it ain’t the flames from any ‘jet engine!’ I mean … there isn’t even a bl**dy jet plane in the photograph!

Hmmm … just had a thought … d’you suppose it could have been the brother of the one that flew into the pentagon?

Laura adds:

Comment: Can't let the cat out of the bag. It is much easier to attempt to say it is a hoax. It didn't work this time.

The above case and many more meteor reports are to be found here:

Signs Supplement - Meteors, Asteroids, Comets, and NEOs
September - December 2003

http://www.signs-of-the-times.org/signs/signs_meteor_supplement5.htm

Experts!

Whenever I come across the word in a media article I am immediately on the alert for BS and dis-information!

Makes ya wonder how the planet can be in such a mess when we are blessed with so many experts, donnit?!

Or …. after reading the above … maybe it doesn’t!

Kieran

 

[Gaby]

The last news about the Peru meteorite that I read was from BBC World in spanish, were it was reported that a countryman spoke about a climate change after the impact (it is more cold and windy) and there were more than 600 families with health issues, mainly vomiting, nausea, diarrhea and headaches.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/spanish/science/newsid_7000000/7000760.stm

 

[Laura]

Well, here's a new twist from Sorcha Faal!!!

Is Sorcha onto something, or is this just more and better disinfo?

_http://www.whatdoesitmean.com/index1034.htm

September 20, 2007

American Spy Satellite Downed In Peru As US Nuclear Attack On Iran Thwarted

By: Sorcha Faal, and as reported to her Western Subscribers


Russian Military Intelligence Analysts are reporting today that one of
the United States most secretive spy satellites, the KH-13, targeting
Iran was ‘destroyed in its orbit’ with its main power generator powered
by the radioactive isotope Pu-238 surviving re-entry and crashing in a
remote region of the South American Nation of Peru, and where hundreds
are reported to be ill from radiation poisoning.

Western media reports are stating that the US spy satellite debris
hitting Peru was caused by a meteor, but which, according to these
reports, would be ‘impossible’ as the size of 30-meter crater, if caused
by a meteorite, would have hit the ground with about as much energy as 1
kiloton tactical nuclear weapon, and which would have been recorded by
the seismic stations around the World.

Most astonishing about these reports, however, are that they state that
it was the Americans themselves who destroyed their own spy satellite
with the attack upon it being made by the United States Air Forces’ 30th
Space Wing located at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

This incident further fuels the intrigue involving the United States War
Leaders plans to attack Iran in their attempt to engulf the entire
Middle East in Total War, but, against which, according to Russian
Military Intelligence Analysts, a ‘high ranking and significant’ faction
of the American Military Establishment is opposed to.

This can be further evidenced by this past few weeks unprecedented
announcement by the United States Air Force that 6 nuclear armed cruise
missiles were removed, without authorization, from their secure holding
facility, located in North Dakota at the Minot Air Force Base, and flown
to Barksdale Air Force Base, located in Louisiana, where they were left
‘unattended’ for ‘nearly 10 hours’.

It is interesting to note, too, that Barksdale Air Force Base is where
the United States President was ‘ordered’ to report to on September 11,
2001 by the United States Air Force Strategic Command prior to his being
‘transferred’ under ‘armed escort’ to Offutt Air Force Base Strategic
Command Center near Omaha, Nebraska, where the first ‘truce’ between
Americas War Leaders and its Military Forces was ‘negotiated’ by
billionaire Warren Buffett as intermediary between the rival power
blocs.

Though the rival American power blocs do seem to have maintained their
uneasy truce, and which have, to date, prevented further attacks within
the United States itself, these latest events, according to these
reports, appear to show that this truce is now breaking down over
threats and planning by the American War Leaders to attack Iran, and
which Russia has warned would be ‘catastrophic’.

What remains unknown to us, at this time, is what counter-planning the
American War Leaders have in store for furthering their war aims against
Iran as the United States Military have ‘clearly signaled’ that it will
not allow nuclear weapons to be used, even to the extent of denying to
their War Leaders one of their most prized spy satellites used to guide
their nuclear cruise missiles to their intended Iranian targets.

As the American peoples desire for war appears to be exhausted, and with
new polls showing their President and Congress’ approval ratings at
‘record lows’, these reports paint a frightening picture of an American
War Leadership determined to engulf the entire World in Total War in
order to perpetuate their hegemony.

Not since last century’s German Nazi and Japanese Empire’s has the World
seen such naked aggression towards the capture of the Earth’s resources,
and which caused the deaths of nearly 100 million people, but which the
United States and its Western Allies now seem determined to see through
to its brutal, and bloody end.

Here's a version of the story linked to by Faal:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/09/19/wperu119.xml

Hundreds ill after Peru 'toxic meteor crash'

By Sally Peck
Last Updated: 8:24am BST 19/09/2007

Hundreds of people have suffered headaches, nausea, and respiratory problems after an object from space - believed to be a meteorite - crashed in southern Peru.

Eyewitnesses watched a fiery ball fall from the sky and smash into the remote Andean plain near the Bolivian border on Saturday, local media reported.

When villagers went to investigate, they encountered fetid, noxious gases, according to local health officials.

Jorge Lopez, director of the health department in the southern state of Puno, 800 miles south of Lima, said at least 200 people had become ill after inhaling "toxic" fumes emanating from the resulting crater.

"This is caused by the gas they have inhaled after the crash," Mr Lopez said.

Ursula Marvin, a meteor expert at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Massachusetts, said it was likely the dust raised when the object hit the ground was causing the health problems.

She said a meteorite "wouldn't get much gas out of the earth".

Three geologists from Peru's Geophysics Institute are on their way to the site to determine whether it was, in fact, a meteorite, and are expected to present a report on the incident on Thursday.

Similar cases were reported in 2002 and 2004 elsewhere in southern Peru but were never confirmed as meteorites.

The crater left by the object is 65ft wide and 20ft deep

The other linked stories:

http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2007/septiembre/mar18/us-plans-to-bombard-iran.html

U.S. plans to bombard Iran

WASHINGTON.—Pentagon strategists have defined up to 2,000 possible bombing targets in Iran in the event of the United States opting for military aggression against that country, the online edition of the Sunday Telegraph in the UK revealed this Monday.

U.S. plans to bombard IranOfficials from the Defense Department and the CIA believe that the White House has commenced a carefully planned program to increase pressure on Tehran, which could result in an armed attack.

According to the article, an initial target would be Fajr Garrison in Ahwaz, in southeast Iran, where the United States says missiles used by the Iraqi resistance against U.S. and British troops are manufactured.

According to that theory, which has won sympathizers among Washington officials, a U.S. air strike on Iranian territory would generate a response from Tehran.

In response to this threat, Mohammed El Baradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), reiterated his opposition to the use of force against Iran and advocated continuing dialogue to solve the crisis unleashed by its nuclear program, NOTIMEX reports.

In his inaugural message for the 51st IAEA General Conference, meeting from Monday through Saturday in Vienna, El Baradei strongly affirmed that military action against Iran is not the way to find a solution to the conflict.

Translated by Granma International

and...

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aNEshLQmbHI4&refer=home

Russia Says U.S. Attack on Iran Would Be Catastrophic (Update2)
By Sebastian Alison and Henry Meyer
Enlarge Image/Details

Sept. 18 (Bloomberg) -- A U.S. military strike on Iran would have ``catastrophic consequences,'' Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov said.

``Bomb attacks on Iran would be a wrong move leading to catastrophic consequences,'' Losyukov said in an interview with newspaper Vremya Novostei, published on the ministry's Web site.

Losyukov's remarks come two days after French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said the world should ``prepare for the worst'' in the crisis over Iran's nuclear program, and that ``the worst is war.'' In Moscow today, Kouchner said everything must be done to avoid war and called for all sides to ``negotiate, negotiate, negotiate without a break.''

Iran says it's pursuing a nuclear research program to generate energy. The U.S. accuses it of enriching uranium to make a nuclear bomb. The State Department is trying to rally support for a third round of United Nations sanctions against Iran at the Security Council in New York.

Kouchner, who met Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov today, said the international community should work on drawing up sanctions on Iran ``to show our determination'' to achieve a peaceful resolution to the crisis.

Russia won't back new sanctions, Lavrov said after the talks. ``We are very concerned about reports that military action against Iran is being seriously considered,'' he said.

Nuclear Reactor

Russia has been building a nuclear reactor at Bushehr in Iran for more than a decade. Construction has slowed in a dispute over payment, although Iran wants it completed as quickly as possible. Losyukov said there are plans to evacuate Russian workers in Iran should they come under attack from a U.S. military strike.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is due in Tehran on Oct. 16 for a meeting of leaders of the countries bordering the Caspian Sea, and Losyukov was asked if Putin might be in danger from U.S. attacks if he attends. ``I think they will refrain before the summit, otherwise they'll have very serious problems,'' he replied.

A U.S. attack on Iran would destabilize the Middle East and lead to ``an extremely negative reaction'' in the Islamic world, Losyukov said, adding that ``use of force would be a serious diplomatic and political mistake.''

Dan Plesch, director of the Center for International Studies and Diplomacy at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, said a preemptive strike would damage U.S. relations across the region.

``If they do it, they'll destroy everything,'' he said in an interview in London. ``You can destroy Tehran and you will lose Turkey and Egypt, in terms of political action. The U.S. and the Europeans should take a regional approach with a UN Security Council resolution and get Israel involved.''

Unfortunately, these guys don't seem to be aware of psychopathy and that psychopaths simply don't care what they destroy, even themselves.

 

[dj]

The odor mentioned in one of the reports seems like a possible clue to the illnesses. In one of the articles SOTT ran not too long ago called "Cosmic Cockroaches" - it mentioned extraterrestrial PAH's - Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons. Among the properties of these PAH's are potential toxicity, tough enough to survive cosmic events, and association with comets. --
The quickness of onset of illnesses suggest to me an inhaled toxicity rather than a parasite problem

Even the friends who think I'm nuts sat up and took notice of this event - it must rate high on the media attention factor.

 

[Gaby]

The odor mentioned in one of the reports seems like a possible clue to the illnesses.

There are no traces of radioactivity according to the Peruvian Nuclear Energy Institute, they discarded it. Others were speculating that the odor was sulfur or ammoniac from the rock. Another hypothesis is that it is large quantities of ozone liberated after the impact, apparently it is known to give these symptoms. Who knows. Reuters reported that a Peruvian geologist stated that "yes, it is a meteorite".

http://www.20minutos.es/noticia/278249/0/meteorito/peru/mareos/
http://lta.today.reuters.com/news/NewsArticle.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyID=2007-09-19T165836Z_01_N19274561_RTRIDST_0_LATINOAMERICA-PERU-METEORITO-SOL.XML

Links are again in spanish.

Other news reports stated that some people were starting to recover from their symptoms.

 

[Rick]

According to Benny Peiser over at CCNet

Over the last few days, premature claims by government officials and speculations by scientists about an alleged "meteorite impact" in Peru have triggered fears and near mass hysteria among local residents who fear impending cosmic disaster and long-term health effects of a "boiling" crater: "There is 'a lot of panic and fear because villagers are afraid that other space objects could fall,' Quispe told AFP."

According to media reports, "hundreds of people in Peru have needed treatment after an object from space - said to be a meteorite - plummeted to Earth in a remote area, officials say."

A Peruvian scientist was widely quoted - on dubious grounds - confirming that a cosmic impact had produced sulphurous gases that are claimed to be responsible for a mystery illness that has effected hundreds of local people:

"It is a conventional meteorite that, when it struck, produced gases by fusing with elements of the terrain," he said.

Yesterday, Peru's official government news agency reported that "scientists who went to the town of Carancas in the Region of Puno, Peru, have ... confirmed that a chondrite meteorite had caused the 17 meter (55 foot) wide and 5 meter (16 foot) deep crater when it landed on earth."

It remains unclear, however, on what evidence this claim is based. Which is why I advise to remain sceptical for the time being. The Peruvian crater does not look like a typical hypervelocity impact crater. In fact, it looks much more like an explosion crater with the debris field scattered all around it.

Many of the reported features of the crater ("boiling water," sulphurous fumes, etc) point to a geological mechanism of the crater formation. I would not be surprised if, after careful analysis, the alleged meteorite impact reveals itself to be just another "meteorwrong." Perhaps the conspicuous crater might be very similar in nature to the North Valley explosion craters that John Stewart and David Roddy of the US Geological Survey analysed a few years ago (see HERE (pdf)). It would not be the first time that an alleged impact event turns out to be an urban legend fostered by premature announcements and uncritical media coverage.

CCNet used to discuss asteroid and comet threats, but now seems to
concern itself with debunking global warming. However, his speculation
seems more credible than Sorcha Faal's. [Moderator note: Active link removed]

 

[ArdVan]

There seem to be some old knowledge about meteors that can make people sick:

Revelation 8:10/11 (King James Version)
And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters; And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.

Or Revelation 9:1-6 sounds like a distorted meteor poisoning description:

And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads. And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man. And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them. ...

 

[Laura]

It's true that the crater does not look like any meteor impact crater I've ever seen.

 

[Mr. Premise]

Space weapon?

 

[Kieran]

"Increasingly we think that people witnessed a fireball, which are not uncommon, went off to investigate and found a lake of sedimentary deposit, which may be full of smelly, methane rich organic matter," said Dr Caroline Smith, a meteorite expert at the London-based Natural History Museum.

"This has been mistaken for a crater."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7001897.stm

Seems strange that the local people would not have been aware of an already existing “lake of sedimentary deposit, which may be full of smelly, methane rich organic matter…” if it has a tendency to make people very ill! I would have thought it would have been known about and avoided. Mothers would take particular care to warn their children about such a ‘lake.’

And if it did not exist before it seems strange that it should be formed by a sudden geological event at the same time as:

Eyewitnesses watched a fiery ball fall from the sky and smash into the remote Andean plain near the Bolivian border on Saturday, local media reported.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/09/19/wperu119.xml

I agree that the photograph of the crater doesn’t look like most impact craters we see images of, but usually we see images of much larger craters that are thousands of years old, and that have been subject to erosion and ‘smoothing’ over time.

Surely there must sometimes be ‘messy’ impact craters that quickly fill with sub-surface water. Possibly toxic sub-surface water?

So do we go for a fireball that landed elsewhere or maybe burned up in the atmosphere at the same time as a sudden geological formation spontaneously occurred?

Or was it a meteor that hit the ground and formed the ‘crater’ that then filled with water?

Or was it some other space debris … such as the inner core of a ‘high tech’ guidance satellite as suggested by Sorcha Faal?

But remember that the Peruvian ‘authorities’ have stated that no trace of radioactivity has been found.

I wonder if we shall ever know?

Kieran

 

[anart]

Surely there must sometimes be ‘messy’ impact craters that quickly fill with sub-surface water. Possibly toxic sub-surface water?

Fwiw, I don't think it's the water that makes it an unusual looking crater. It could be the condition of the surrounding soil, and it is hard to tell for sure from the photograph provided, but it has the appearance of being 'dug out' or 'exploded from within' or 'something'. What I mean by that is that there isn't a noticable 'rim' - you just see the hole, some loose soil/clay/clumps and then the surrounding ground - so that seems a little odd. But, maybe it's not big enough for a 'rim' to form?

It might not mean anything, though, and the water puddle does, at least from that one picture, appear to be oblong, which is pretty usual for an impact crator - with the object coming in at an angle. Perhaps a better shot of it from a distance, and above would clarify things a bit.