An alleged meteorite which plummeted from the sky, killing a bus driver and leaving a five-foot crater in India, is now being analysed by specialist.

The small, blue object slammed into the ground at an engineering college in Vellore, in Tamil Nadu state, over the weekend, shattering a water cooler and sending splinters and shards flying.

Police say the man, a 40-year-old bus driver, had been hit by the debris and died while being taken to a hospital.

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The small, blue object slammed into the ground at an engineering college in Vellore, in Tamil Nadu state, over the weekend, shattering a water cooler and sending splinters and shards flying

The bus driver was standing on a patch of grass near the college cafeteria when he was killed, while two gardeners and a student were injured, officials said.

College principal G. Bhaskar said he heard a loud thud from his office, where several window panes shattered when the object hit the ground.

Local officials and scientists from the Indian Institute of Astrophysics on Tuesday examined the five -foot-wide impact crater at the college near Vellore city.

The team said they had yet to determine whether the object was from outer space or possibly a passing airplane or man-made satellite.

The hard, jagged object is dark blue and small enough to be held in a closed hand.

Local scientists are examining stone and crater, but said they had yet to determine whether the object was from outer space or possibly a passing airplane or man-made satellite

The object, believed to have been pictured before it was cleaned up, is hard, jagged and small enough to be held in a closed hand

Indian authorities inspect the site of a suspected meteorite landing, in an impact that killed a bus driver

'The object that police have recovered from the site would have to undergo chemical analysis' to confirm its origin, said the dean of the institute, Prof. G.C. Anupama.

She said that while it was rare for meteors to reach the ground before burning up in the atmosphere, it happens.

In February 2013, a large meteor was photographed streaking across the sky above the Siberian city of Chelyabinsk.

WHAT IS A METEORITE? The missile could be debris from a rocket or a space shuttle. Meteors are particles of dust and rock that usually burn up as they pass through the Earth's atmosphere. Those that do not burn up completely, surviving the fall to Earth, are known as meteorites. Advertisement

Tamil Nadu's top elected official J. Jayalalithaa said Sunday that the bus driver had been killed by a meteorite and offered compensation to his family.

His death on Saturday is the first reported fatality caused by a falling meteorite since the 19th century.

Government officials at first suspected the blast was caused by explosives accidentally left after building work.

However, investigations found no evidence of explosive material at the site.

'When no evidence of explosive material was found, we moved to the theory that it might be a meteorite,' said a district official who asked not be named.