At 2:10 a.m. that morning residents in Veracruz, Mexico, about 25 miles from the ship's position were awakened by a deafening noise.
"Before I realized what was happening" Senora Angelita de Villalobos Arana, 40, told investigators, "it was as bright as day - and the terrible noise kept on... I felt cool then cold...The light got brighter"
Within minutes the streets of Veracruz were filled with hysterical people. They thought the end of the world had arrived as the sky filled with unearthly light and the ground trembled. The strange "meteor" loomed over the scene, seemed to dip towards the ground, then rose again and shot off.