Mystery illness strikes after meteorite hits village

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=296907 ^

[chessplayer]

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.

[Bon mots]

It must be a Chupacabra.

[gleeaikin]

My guess would be crater 30 feet by 6 feet. However, samples have been taken to test for radioactivity and will be ready in 7 days. If it is radioactivity (a fallen piece of radioactive space junk of human manufacture?) then it is incredibly strong and people will start dying long before the test results are in. Otherwise, if radioactivity is weak, they would not have gotten sick that quickly. Perhaps the boiling of the water set off gases from buried matter in the soil. Certainly an object large enough to make such a crater would also heat up the subsoil and boil the ground water. On the other hand, the area looks awfully dry to have groundwater that close to the surface.

[Ignatz]

It sounds more like a Village of the Damned scenario to me!

You mean Hillary's book?

[Ignatz]

“The Color Out of Space” by H.P. Lovecraft (1927) was the best rendering of this idea.

One of my favorite sci-fi short stories!.

[Red_Devil 232]

Do a mental projection of the SUV of the back ground and bring that SUV foward in the picture so it is on the rim of the crater. The SUV is at most 18 ft. long ... that crater is no way near 30ft. in dia. As I stated the crater is at most 6ft. in dia. and that is being very very forgiving!

[BBell]

Better go drink some sterno!

[ct_libertarian]

“The Colour out of Space” was my first thought too.

[coconutt2000]

Alien DNA or pathogens could easily eradicate much of the life on Earth. We have no resistance, our immune systems might not even recognize it as dangerous. An example would be you can get a piece of glass embedded in your body and you have no immunological responses at all.

And you're assuming that alien pathogens would recognize us as food. ;-P

[LukeL]

Dude you were eating off it!

[Red_Devil 232]

The craters dia. from waters edge to waters edge is about 4.5ft.

[doodad]

I remember when they shot that Body Snatchers movie in my old hometown! Sierra Madre, California

Did you find the treasure? %^)

[af_vet_rr]

Have they checked for pods?

I have a pickup truck, some shotguns, a lot of beer, and dogs that I am willing to ignore when they bark at night. Bring on the zombies!

[null and void]

I have a pickup truck, some shotguns, a lot of beer, and dogs that I am willing to ignore when they bark at night. Bring on the zombies!

Aren't you missing a bimbo?

[Polynikes]

Exactly what I was thinking. Sure sounds like someones satellite with a nuclear power plant came tumbling down. Now it is a matter who the owner is.

[steve86]

However, samples have been taken to test for radioactivity and will be ready in 7 days.

No need to take samples or wait for results. A scan for radioactivity could be conducted from 1,000 ft away and take all of 10 seconds.

[6ppc]

This is what I want when I go hunting zombies!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOyt6imlgLo

[nicmarlo]

lol....methinks so. : )

[processing please hold]

hahahahahahaha.

Look to the skies. Keep looking at the sky.

[processing please hold]

LOL, me too. haha

[Borax Queen]

It's a bird, it's a plane,
It's a bushbot brain!