Vellore, Tamil Nadu: The Geological Survey of India have taken over the investigation of an explosion in Tamil Nadu which was earlier believed to be caused by a meteorite, but is now being contested.
The incident caught international headlines after the blast left a crater in the state's Vellore district and killed one person and injured three others.
It was being investigated by the district administration, but on Thursday, GSI authorities collected fresh samples from the site also also took custody of samples gathered earlier. Officials of the agency claim they are the only authorised body in the country to do research on meteorites and related objects.
About the samples collected, the Deputy Director General of Geological Survey of India S Raju said, "These samples have magnetic properties. They also have carbon like property, like pencil. The appearance is like meteorite but only after a chemical analysis we can confirm. We are sending these samples to Kolkotta."
In the aftermath of the incident last week, Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa had confirmed it was a meteorite that killed a driver at the Bharathidasan Engineering College. However scientists from the Indian Institute of Astrophysics and even NASA had expressed doubts about this claim.
Forensic experts have not yet found any explosives at the site making the cause of explosion still unknown.
To a specific question on if the meteorite was responsibloe for the man's death, Mr Raju claimed that there's no record of any one killed by meteorite.
On Saturday, an explosion was heard at the Bharathidasan Engineering College located near Natrampalli, which left a crater five-feet-deep in the ground and shattered window panes of buses and the college building.
The last recorded human fatality caused by a meteorite was in 1825, according to a list kept by International Comet Quarterly.
The incident caught international headlines after the blast left a crater in the state's Vellore district and killed one person and injured three others.
It was being investigated by the district administration, but on Thursday, GSI authorities collected fresh samples from the site also also took custody of samples gathered earlier. Officials of the agency claim they are the only authorised body in the country to do research on meteorites and related objects.
In the aftermath of the incident last week, Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa had confirmed it was a meteorite that killed a driver at the Bharathidasan Engineering College. However scientists from the Indian Institute of Astrophysics and even NASA had expressed doubts about this claim.
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To a specific question on if the meteorite was responsibloe for the man's death, Mr Raju claimed that there's no record of any one killed by meteorite.
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The last recorded human fatality caused by a meteorite was in 1825, according to a list kept by International Comet Quarterly.
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