TURA: The remains of what is believed to be a burning meteorite that fell from the sky late Wednesday night triggered panic among the residents living along the Indo-Bangla border both in and across Garo Hills. Border villagers in Dumnikura area of South Garo Hills were preparing to call it a night when they heard a booming sound descend at around 10:30 in the night. They rushed out in time to see the night sky lit up and a huge ball of fire come crashing down. A group of BSF personnel from the Dumnikura border outpost were on patrol along the border when they witnessed the scene from the ground and immediately alerted their seniors. “A team of our jawans with an officer was patrolling the area when they witnessed the burning object come crashing down from above,” said BSF officials from Dobasipara Sector Headquarters in Tura.

According to the jawans the meteorite is said to have exploded in mid-air and its remains fell across the border into neighbouring Sherpur district of Bangladesh where a similar scenario of people fleeing their homes was noticed.

Locals say that the burning meteorite could be seen as far as Dalu region in West Garo Hills, forty kms away.

“There was a huge sound and then the sky lit up in a bright color before the explosion occurred. We could make out that it was a huge object because the impact of the blast was felt even though it took place far away,” said a local Dipu Marak. Meteorites regularly crash in from space into the earth’s atmosphere where they burn up but there have been several instances when the object has failed to burn up and instead exploded on the surface of the planet causing gigantic shock waves and destruction as was the case in Siberia a few years ago.