Villagers in southern Peru have been struck by a mysterious illness after a meteorite made a fiery crash to Earth in their area.

Around midday Saturday, villagers were startled by an explosion and a fireball that many were convinced was a plane crashing near their remote village, in the high Andes department of Puno in the Desaguadero region, near the border with Bolivia.

Residents complained of headaches and vomiting brought on by a "strange odour."

Seven policemen who went to check on the reports also became ill and had to be given oxygen before being taken to hospital.

Rescue teams and experts were dispatched to the scene where the meteorite had left a crater 30m wide and 6m deep, said local official Marco Limache.

Boiling water started coming out of the crater and particles of rock and cinders were found nearby.
go

Oh could it be an alien biological weapon ???

Mystery illness strikes after meteorite hits village



The impact that the meteorite left. (AAP)



Villagers in southern Peru were struck by a mysterious illness after a meteorite made a fiery crash to Earth in their area, regional authorities said today.

Around midday Saturday, villagers were startled by an explosion and a fireball that many were convinced was an airplane crashing near their remote village, located in the high Andes department of Puno in the Desaguadero region, near the border with Bolivia.

Residents complained of headaches and vomiting brought on by a "strange odor," local health department official Jorge Lopez told Peruvian radio RPP.

Seven policemen who went to check on the reports also became ill and had to be given oxygen before being hospitalized, Lopez said.

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Rescue teams and experts were dispatched to the scene, where the meteorite left a 30-metre-wide and six-metre-deep crater, said local official Marco Limache.

"Boiling water started coming out of the crater and particles of rock and cinders were found nearby. Residents are very concerned," he said.

linky

you would think there would be some mention about some sort of follow up?
couldnt something like that potentially be dangerous ?

Weird. Maybe it's some type of alien virus, that will plague mankind for the next 5 years. Untill the last human being dies from it on december 21st 2012.

Maybe it was something in the ground that caused it, which was released after the meteorite hit? It could be all sorts of things, I doubt it was directly caused by the meteorite.

eek, that sounds quite serious??
i hope they're treating it as so..

sounds like mass hysteria!
C'mon a backward village... do we of the scientific-minded west.. actually need to add anything else?

WHOA!! Thats a huge hole of a crater! ...and that it was boiling the water inside it giving out toxic fumes!?

Anyone here thinks it could be radioactive?

Comments like this are absolute proof of the lack of a scientific mind set of many in the west. Where is your evidence? Simply saying "it is so, no more to be said" is about as far away from scientific method as it is possible, it does show a rather bigoted attitude towards other cultures though.

There are any number of reasons that this object could have caused illness. Viruses from space are highly unlikely to be the cause, however this "meteorite" could easily be a part of a satellite or spent rocket stage that has survived re-entry. Some rocket fuels and oxidisers are highly toxic.

<sigh> Minor volcanic activity. Brief light on the horizon. Sulphur released. Villagers ill. Cat goes to bed.

Meow Purr.

The Andromeda Strain.

when i see stories like these I always think of a virus that would turn the world into nothing but flesh eating zombies

Do we have any empirical data to support such claims?
If not, in the absence of evidence I'd like to deploy occam's razor.

Hmmm...do you play a lot of video games?

No we don't, nor do we have any empirical data to support your claim hence there is no way that you can apply Occam's razor to support it.

Makes me think of a Stephen King story....and I don't see why a meteorite couldn't bring with it something that could harm humans. It doesn't have to be a virus, it could be all kinds of chemical reactions caused by the heat on entry to combining with the H2O of water. Very interesting.

Sure we can, in the absence of evidence- the event most likely didn't happen. Have we got any verification the event took place?
How reliable is the source?
Assumpting the info is true, someone somewhere assumed it was indeed a meteorite... based on what? scientific speculation or 'the villager's belief' which let's face it, is probably going to be 'quite out there'. The God's touched the earth or witches...etc
Science is always actively involved in a battle against 'faith.' which might appear bigoted in the same sense skepticism to some people might appear rude.

UPDATE


No radiation detected in mysterious crater

No radiation has been detected in a crater caused by a meteorite which slammed into southeastern Peru, causing 200 villagers to fall ill, officials and scientists said today. (AAP)

No radiation has been detected in a crater caused by a meteorite which slammed into southeastern Peru, causing 200 villagers to fall ill, officials and scientists said today.

Scores of residents of the farming village of Carancas began vomiting and complaining of headaches and dizziness after the space object struck the area Saturday, creating an eight meter deep, 20 meter wide crater.

"We have determined with precision instruments that there is no radiation," engineer Renan Ramirez of the Peruvian Nuclear Energy Institute told AFP.

Ramirez said the illnesses may have been triggered by sulfur, arsenic or other toxins that may have melted in the extreme heat produced by the meteorite strike.

"It is a conventional meteorite that, when it struck, produced gases by fusing with elements of the terrain," he said. He also ruled out that the object was a satellite.

Nestor Quispe, mayor of the nearby town of Desaguadero, said about 200 sick villagers are being treated and that Carancas residents fear that they fear long-term side effects.

There is also "a lot of panic and fear because villagers are afraid that other space objects could fall," Quispe told AFP.

The director of the health ministry in the Puno region, Jorge Lopez, said none of the patients was in serious condition but that they would have to undergo blood and neurological tests as a precaution in three to six months.

A medical facility was installed in Carancas to treat the patients, and "if necessary, some will be sent to hospitals in Puno," the nearest big city, he said.

Police have cordoned off the crater. Lopez said that despite wearing a mask while he approached the crater, the fumes irritated his nose and throat.

linky

no, just watch alot of zombie movies

Thanks for the update jesspy,
although I'm still highly skeptical at this stage about the alleged events.
Could develop into an interesting story though...

OR.... it could become top secret, and we will never know what caused it..... I suppose the idea that the particular terrain involved could have triggered the event is the probable explaination, I still get a feeling of unease myself....meteors do that to us, after all, so many Sci-Fi films begin that way!! I think it only natural the locals would have been extremely upset..I know I would be in a similar situation!