Would You Like a Squishee With That Rock?

[Elspode]

September 28

Space Rock Hits Indian Village, Injures One

BHUBANESHWAR, India (AP) _ Hundreds of people fled their homes when a meteor struck their village in eastern India, injuring three people and destroying two houses, a state minister said Sunday.

The fireball hit the village of Sudusudia in Orissa state on Saturday evening, said B. B. Harichandan, the state revenue minister. "One person has sustained burn injuries and two houses have been burned down. The injured has been hospitalized,'' the minister said.

Another two were hospitalized after falling unconscious, apparently from shock, local newspaper Dharitri reported.

"The light was so bright that for a few seconds it appeared to be daylight,'' said Sanatan Sahu, a villager.

Meteors, pulled by gravity toward earth, usually burn out in the planet's atmosphere and disintegrate before making an impact. "Though incidents of this kind are a rare phenomenon in this region, such celestial occurrences are common in space,'' said J. Kar of the Pathani Samanta Planetarium in the state capital Bhubaneshwar.

-- Associated Press

September 26