Indian scientists to verify Tamil Nadu meteorite death claim

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa Jayaram said that Kamraj, a bus driver, died after a meteorite fell on a college campus. Scientists said tests were needed to confirm that the rock was a meteorite. If confirmed, experts said this would be the first such death in nearly 200 years. According to a list prepared by the International Comet Quarterly, a man was killed in a “meteorite fall” in India in 1825.
PK Senthilkumari, chief of Vellore police, told a leading daily from Chennai that a “small stone weighing about 10g was recovered from the spot” at Bharathidasan Engineering College. “We have requested scientists to come and examine the object,” he added. Kamraj was working in the campus when the object fell and caused a loud explosion. It left a crater in the ground and blew out glass windows in the adjoining buildings. The victim “sustained serious injuries and died while on the way to the hospital,” Ms Jayaram said.
The government has announced a financial aid of Rs 100,000 for Kamraj’s family.
Meteors are dust-sized particles that burn up as they plummet through Earth’s atmosphere. Meteorites are larger, more durable objects that survive heating in the atmosphere and land on Earth.