Explosion That Rocked City Was So Powerful, Scientists Thought It Was a Meteor Impact
If a massive meteor left a giant crater somewhere on Earth, how long do you think it would take someone to say, “That’s so 2020?”
No doubt people would be wondering if the asteroid were glowing purple or giving off some kind of primordial ooze. There would be jokes about whether this could have wiped out life in advance of the presidential election. There might be suggestions that we’re living in some kind of alternate timeline when we were all wiped out by the meteorite and this is all just a fever-dream happening in our minds.
I’m not sure whether it was a glowing B-movie meteor or whether it wiped out all life and we’re all just living inside our fever dreams these days. Whatever the case, a meteor was what, for a few days, some people were saying hit the southwestern Nigerian city of Akure earlier this year.
Confusion began almost immediately after the explosion on March 28.
The original report was that a truck full of explosives had blown up near the Akure-Owo Expressway, cutting off a section of the highway, however.
Two days later, PM News Nigeria reported on an investigation from Adekunle Abraham Adepelumi of the Obafemi Awolowo University, which dispatched investigators.
“My research group carried out a detailed analysis of the impact site. A circular impact crater with 21m diameter and 7.8m depth was found which suggest a natural phenomenon,” Adepelumi said.
“Water was found oozing out from the edges of the crater,” he added.
“The field evidence point to a conclusion that A METEORIC FROM AN ASTEROID BELT THAT TRAVELS AT A GREAT SPEED FROM SPACE IMPACTED THE LOCATION AT AN ANGLE OF 43 degrees created an ejecta at South-Western part,” the report continued.
It went on to say investigators found no “evidence of buried vehicle, buried ordinance or IED was found. However, crack opening that vary in thickness from 3mm to 4 metres occurs on the wall of most of the buildings but not at the base of the buildings.”
“Also, foreign rocks and strange metallic objects were found within the crater. Most of the destruction occurs on top and roof/ceilings of the buildings.”
This began to get attention outside of the Nigerian news media, as well — including with former NASA scientist James O’Donoghue.
Many articles mentioned “asteroid” etc… I figured they’d seen a fireball, but doesn’t look like it. There were no known objects passing Earth around that time either
— James O’Donoghue (@physicsJ) March 28, 2020
However, it quickly became apparent that maybe the original reports and the authorities were telling the truth here.
Even though this occurred exactly over a road, and no known objects were passing anywhere near Earth according to NASA (https://t.co/oUr18bDMeG), people are still claiming it’s an asteroid… I think I’m stumbling on some regional politics here, so I’ll end stop commenting on it.
— James O’Donoghue (@physicsJ) March 28, 2020
This looks reminiscent of the Nicaragua “meteor” crater which was definitely an explosion on a military base. There seems to be a square at the base of this crater too. But was it right next to the main road ?? One wouldn’t store explosives there. https://t.co/c6pA67k4I4 https://t.co/DlpE9GcUxu
— Andy Cooper (@scute1133) March 28, 2020
Well, one wouldn’t necessarily store explosives here, but it also turned out to be a good place to abandon them if things went bad:
UPDATE ON THE AKURE EXPLOSION: A Driver of a truck conveying explosives for a quarry company noticed smoke was coming out from the consignment, he managed the truck to a less populated area and ran out of the vehicle. This is Ondo State CP giving an update on the situation. pic.twitter.com/r1gEQGz7MJ
— Olúyẹmí Fásípè ?? (@YemieFASH) March 28, 2020
And, indeed, that seemed to be the case:
“The Ondo State Police Command has confirmed that the blasts that happened in Akure was not a meteor but a result of explosives being escorted by men of the Explosive Ordnance Department (EOD) of Nigerian Police”
From: https://t.co/cXugjDSGkR
(contains video of police statement)— James O’Donoghue (@physicsJ) March 28, 2020
But, alas — wouldn’t a meteor touching down in Africa have been officially the most 2020 thing ever?
This isn’t even talking about the potential fallout. Granted, it likely wouldn’t have contained alien life, but we don’t know what would have happened if it would have. Just think: The end of all life on Earth, having ended up here in the one continent that’s been surviving the coronavirus crisis relatively intact thus far.
You have to admit it’s been an annus horribilis when we’re almost sorry a meteor didn’t end up killing all life on Earth. It would have almost been relatively painless.
Alas, no such luck. We didn’t even notice.
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