Meteorite Crash in Peru

A meteorite that crashed in Peru has created a 66ft wide crater aand caused mysterious illness to many. Witnesses told of a fiery ball falling from the sky and smashing into the desolate Andean plain near the Bolivian border at the weekend. Officials have said it was a meteorite. When villagers went to investigate, they encountered fetid, noxious gases, according to local health officials.

Jorge Lopez, director of the health department in the state of Puno, said 200 people have suffered headaches, nausea and respiratory problems caused by "toxic" fumes from the resulting crater, which is about 66 feet wide and 16 feet deep. "This is caused by the gas they have inhaled after the crash. We ourselves went near the crater and now we've got irritated throats and itching noses", Mr Lopez said. Link

But expert Ursula Marvin cast doubt on the theory, saying: "It wouldn't be the meteorite itself, but the dust it raises." A meteorite "wouldn't get much gas out of the earth," said Ms Marvin, who has studied them since 1961 at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Massachusetts. "It's a very superficial thing."