Meteorite lands near Nicaraguan capital, rattles residents
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Managua - A meteorite crashed overnight into a forest near Managua's international airport, Nicaragua's Geophysics Institute confirmed Sunday.
The meteorite jolted hundreds of residents of the capital out of bed and left a crater 12 metres wide and 5.5 metres deep, according to the newspaper La Prensa.
People ran from their homes in fear, believing an earthquake had struck when they heard the explosion at 11:05 pm on Saturday (0500 Sunday GMT), the report said.
Wilfried Strauch, a German geophysicist with the institute, said the impact caused a light seismological wave, but no streak was observed because the meteorite crashed into the Earth at an angle of about 50 degrees.About five meteorite strikes are recorded annually worldwide.
DPA
