A bus driver in India was killed after he was hit bu a meteorite - February 9, 2016. The news becam viral and trending worldwide.
But there was nothing V. Kamaraj could do when, as he washed his face at an outdoor water tower during his lunch break, he became the first person in modern recorded history to be struck dead by a meteorite.
That is the only explanation authorities have for the bizarre demise of the 40-year-old, who was last seen relaxing in the grounds of Bharathidasan Engineering College in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu at noon on Saturday when an explosion was heard.
"It was a sound like nothing I've ever heard before," said G Baskar, the college's principal. "There was no smell at all, no fire, nothing."
Alternative explanations such as leftover explosives from construction, or a terror attack, were swiftly ruled out by police after no chemical traces were found by forensics teams, leaving authorities with no option but to declare the most unusual of deaths.
"An accident occurred when a meteorite fell in the campus of a private engineering college," said Jayalalithaa Jayaram, Tamil Nadu's chief minister, in a statement on Sunday.
"Kamaraj was severely injured and taken to hospital. On the way there he succumbed to his injuries.
"I offer my sincere condolences to Kamaraj's family."
In a country of India's size, meteorite strikes, though still rare, are recorded from time to time.
"At least one or two meteorites fall every year in India, but so far we've not had any damage to property or people," said Prof SVS Murty, of India's Physical Research Laboratory, which analyses rock samples from suspected "falls".
Src: stuff.co.nz
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