Posted on 09/19/2007 9:09:31 PM PDT by ATOMIC_PUNK
Peru 'meteorite' strike leaves 200 sick
About 200 villagers have fallen ill from mysterious gases that spewed from a crater in southeastern Peru believed to have been caused by a meteorite crash, officials and scientists say.
But they say no radiation has been detected.
Scores of residents of the farming village of Carancas began vomiting and complaining of headaches and dizziness after an apparent meteorite struck the area at the weekend, leaving a crater 8 metres deep and 20 metres wide.
"We have determined with precision instruments that there is no radiation," says engineer Renan Ramirez of the Peruvian Nuclear Energy Institute.
Ramirez says the illnesses may have been triggered by sulfur, arsenic or other toxins that may have melted in the extreme heat produced by the apparent meteorite strike.
"It is a conventional meteorite that, when it struck, produced gases by fusing with elements of the terrain," he says.
He also ruled out that the object was a satellite.
But not all experts are convinced that the 'crater' was really formed by a meteorite, instead suggesting that natural geological processes could have led to the release of noxious gases into the atmosphere.
Nestor Quispe, mayor of the nearby town of Desaguadero, says about 200 sick villagers are being treated and that Carancas residents fear long-term side effects.
The director of the health ministry in the Puno region, Jorge Lopez, says 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.
More likely, it was about time to empty the septic system on the space station. I think they do it every 2 or 3 years? It’s like ejecting a gigantic brown ice cube that hurtles towards earth just like a meteorite!
Quite a bit “stinks” about the meteor idea.
For one thing, a meteor this small hits the earth at room temperature. It doesn’t glow, start fires, give off heat, etc.
Must be global warming, and Bush is to blame.
Does anyone else wonder why the headline at Drudge says: “BBC: Mystery illness in Peru linked to U.S. spy satellite...”, but the story in the link itself doesn’t mention that, and, indeed, quotes someone from the Peruvian Nuclear Energy Institute as ruling out any possibility of a fallen satellite?
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