Queenslanders report bright lights in sky followed by tremor

HUNDREDS of Queenslanders have reported seeing “a flash of light” in the sky followed by a “tremor” last night.

Police received multiple calls from residents in the Gladstone area, in central Queensland, reporting their houses shaking in what was initially believed to be an earthquake.

But Geoscience Australia has since officially ruled out an earthquake.

There were reports as far south as the Sunshine Coast, with one Nambour man saying he heard a loud noise and a flash of light just before 8.30pm.

Lanky Jones said the light was very bright and it appeared as though an object was burning up in the sky.

“It sounded a lot like a sonic boom, which would make sense if something was travelling too fast into the atmosphere,” he said.

“I don’t know what it was, whether a meteorite or piece of space junk. I didn’t feel the tremor but the sound suggests something came down to Earth.

“It’s definitely not something you see every day.”

Higgins Storm Chasing crew said they received reports of a bright flash of light by hundreds of people.

“The light was seen as far south as Hervey Bay and as far north as Yepoon with a tremor being felt upon impact over the general Gladstone area and Boyne Island,” the group said in a Facebook post.

But a US-based astrophysicist may have shed some light on the issue.

Harvard’s Jonathan McDowell told the Gladstone Observer the object in the sky was most likely a meteor. “This sounds like a big (meteor), first in several years that has been that big,” he said.

“It’s not a comet, or Queensland wouldn’t exist anymore (and we’d have seen it coming for days).

“It is probably a large meteor. I’m guessing a rock about a metre across, which would have been big enough perhaps to leave fragments (meteorites) on the ground.”

Witnesses have continued to describe what they saw in the sky, with many reporting the same story and one resident even posting a security video which she claimed captured “the light”.

In another reply, a Mackay woman said she “saw a ball of flame falling from the sky looking south east”.

A Beecher resident said they saw a blinding light and felt an explosion before their house shook.

One man from Boyne Island said he was sitting in his car when he saw the object in the sky.

“It looked like a shooting star and lit up the beach, then about a minute later there was a big band and a shockwave came over the water and shook my car a little bit. It was a pretty awesome experience,” he said.

It is understood fire crews have been called to Emerald to investigate after “burning objects in the sky” were reported.

Confused locals took to social media seeking an explanation for the phenomena, but no authorities have confirmed any of the reports.