submitted by walter jayawardhana - filed 06.12.07
A meteor flashing through the skies was seen Sunday night by people of the Eastern and Western Provinces. It had shattered into pieces and one fell on a house at Kovinna, Andiambalama in the Katunayake Police Area.
People had heard the sound of an explosive when it fell on the house of Prasanna Jayakody at Andiambalama in the Katunayake police said.
Dr. Chandana Jayaratne Meteorologist at the Arthur C. Clarke Centre said this could be the first time a meteor had fallen on Sri Lanka within the last few centuries. People using cellular phones had heard a whizzing sound on their phones when the meteor was flashing through the atmosphere.
Prasanna Jayakody, owner of the house on which the pieces of the meteor fell, told The Island that bright shards fell on his roof on Sunday night but there was nothing left of it in the morning except some black spots.
The fall out had been recorded around 9.00 p.m. and Mrs. Jayakody and a neighbour Miss Renuka Sanjeevani, who were bathing at a well in the garden had seen the small shards of the meteor falling on the roof.
"We saw a very bright yellow light high in the sky at first and it started breaking into small pieces with a sound like an explosion and we were afraid it came from a bomb, but later the tiny pieces fell on the roof," Mrs. Jayakody told The Island.
Inspector Nandalal Padmanatha said when police visited the Jayakody home they saw some black spots on the roof but no damage had been caused.
(Original headline: Flash in the sky, explosion came from falling meteor )
