Sunday, April 10, 2011

Mexico: Fireball - or a UFO in Flames?

Source: Nivel 13 (Spain) and e-consulta.com (Mexico)
Date: 04.10.11


Mexico: Authorities in Boca del Rio Look for UFO
By Rodrigo Barranco

VERACRUZ, Ver. - On the evening of April 8 hundreds sent out Twitter messages indicating that a fireball-shaped UFO was streaking over the city's sky at high speed.

The story did not go beyond that. However, authorities are looking into the object that plowed its way through the heavens, as there have been previous incidents involving meteorites.

Isidro Cano Luna, director of the Boca del Río Civil Protection agency, believed that these are not stories made up by the citizenry -- years ago there was a similar phenomenon that had a scientific explanation.

"What happened last night may have been a bolide, but I am unable to confirm this as I did not witness it. Statistically, we do have antecedents to the event. In the 1960s, a meteorite passed in front of the central coast of Veracruz. It was believed to have crashed in the mountainous region of the state, but this wasn't the case. Everything indicates that [this object] became lost in that same region," he remarked.

A bolide is an orb like a meteorite, having sufficient surface to be seen by the human eye; they often strike the ground and disintegrate.

On Friday night, hundreds of persons reported a fireball crossing the skies over Veracruz, saying it was "a UFO in flames". They made this known over the social networks.

(Translation (c) S. Corrales, IHU. Special thanks to Nivel 13)