Mysterious Illness Following Metorite Strike in Peru

Will O'B · Post by **Will O'B** » Tue Sep 18, 2007 7:32 am

This is an article from Yahoo News just off the wires. The part that really
got my attention was the description of the crash zone. The site sounds
eerily like the scene in War Of The Worlds (the b&w Gene Berry
version -- I've never seen the more recent Tom Cruise movie.) Only
thing is that, I think, in the H. G. Wells story, it was the Martians who got
sick not the earthlings.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mystery illness strikes after meteorite hits Peruvian village Mon Sep 17,
11:23 PM ET

Villagers in southern Peru were struck by a mysterious illness after a
meteorite made a fiery crash to Earth in their area, regional authorities
said Monday.

Around midday Saturday, villagers were startled by an explosion and a
fireball that many were convinced was an airplane crashing near their
remote village, located in the high Andes department of Puno in the
Desaguadero region, near the border with Bolivia.

Residents complained of headaches and vomiting brought on by
a "strange odor," local health department official Jorge Lopez told
Peruvian radio RPP.

Seven policemen who went to check on the reports also became ill and
had to be given oxygen before being hospitalized, Lopez said.

Rescue teams and experts were dispatched to the scene, where the
meteorite left a 100-foot-wide (30-meter-wide) and 20-foot-deep (six-
meter-deep) crater, said local official Marco Limache.

"Boiling water started coming out of the crater and particles of rock and
cinders were found nearby. Residents are very concerned," he said.

jkwest · Post by **jkwest** » Tue Sep 18, 2007 8:40 am

HAHA!!! I was about to post this!!

...but with this picture...

Flyingcursor · Post by **Flyingcursor** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 10:09 am

I know exactly what this portends. Where's Tyler? He knows too.

jim stone · Post by **jim stone** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 11:57 am

This is the beginning of the end of everything.
Stay tuned.

Aanvil · Post by **Aanvil** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 1:06 pm

It probably came down on a septic pit or a few recently buried locals.

The area is volcanic?

Sulfur? Methane? Cracked open a vent?

djm · Post by **djm** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 1:12 pm

From <A HREF="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ ... ience/home} ">what I've read</A> it is common for noxious gases to be released at first when a meteorite crashes down:

G&M article wrote:Luisa Macedo, a geologist with the Mining Geology and Metallurgy Institute in Lima, said the reaction between the elements in a meteorite and the Earth's surface can generate gases that then dissipate.

djm

Jack · Post by **Jack** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 1:12 pm

I keep seeing little meteorites holding "STRIKE! DO NOT CROSS!" signs.

jim stone · Post by **jim stone** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 3:28 pm

Run for your lives, I say!
In your hearts you know what's coming next.

BillChin · Post by **BillChin** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 3:45 pm

jim stone wrote:This is the beginning of the end of everything.
Stay tuned.

Well, the sky IS falling

Denny · Post by **Denny** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 3:54 pm

KatieBell · Post by **KatieBell** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 3:59 pm

Aanvil wrote:a few recently buried locals.

Deceased bodies are not a serious threat by all the accounts I've seen. We all believe sick people are bad enough, to add to it the factor of sick dead people makes most people I know double the eww factor, but I recall reading that there have been zero confirmed cases of a corpse passing an illness on to a living person.

Cubitt · Post by **Cubitt** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 4:17 pm

Now, if you want to be weirded out, Go to Yahoo News, go to the comics section, and check out the last few weeks of story for the strip "Alley Oop". The story resolved the day the meteorite crashed.

Very odd that I should have even happened on to this, as I don't usually read the strip, but I ran across it and stayed with it until the end.

Very weird.

mukade · Post by **mukade** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 4:43 pm

Mysterious Illness Following Beer & Curry Strike in Japan

I never learn.

Mukade

Doug_Tipple · Post by **Doug_Tipple** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 6:04 pm

I've been in and out of Metror Crater in Arizona about twenty seven times, but that does not make me an authority on meteor craters. From what I have heard and read on the news today, there is a lot of speculation whether the crater was caused by a meteor impact. More likely it was caused by volcanic activity, hence the boiling water and noxious fumes. More information is needed by scientists at the site to determine the exact cause of the crater.

jim stone · Post by **jim stone** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 6:06 pm

Maybe, maybe. Meanwhile it's prudent to
start moving north.