{"id":19469,"date":"2016-02-09T00:43:59","date_gmt":"2016-02-08T16:43:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/killed-by-a-meteorite-indian-bus-driver-v-kamarajs-death-may-be-a-first\/"},"modified":"2016-02-09T00:43:59","modified_gmt":"2016-02-08T16:43:59","slug":"killed-by-a-meteorite-indian-bus-driver-v-kamarajs-death-may-be-a-first","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/killed-by-a-meteorite-indian-bus-driver-v-kamarajs-death-may-be-a-first\/","title":{"rendered":"Killed by a meteorite? Indian bus driver V. Kamaraj\u2019s death may be a first"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_224136\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-224136\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full-width wp-image-224136\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/160120-asteroid-630x473.jpg\" alt=\"Asteroid entry\" width=\"630\" height=\"473\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/160120-asteroid-630x473.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/160120-asteroid-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/160120-asteroid-1240x930.jpg 1240w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-224136\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">An artist\u2019s conception shows an asteroid entering Earth\u2019s atmosphere. (Credit: NASA)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Death by meteorite is a&nbsp;common theme in science-fiction&nbsp;movies,&nbsp;but in real life, the chances of being done in by a falling space rock are virtually nil. That\u2019s what makes the reports about the death of Indian bus driver V. Kamaraj in an apparent meteorite strike so remarkable.<\/p>\n<p>Some would argue that the case is unprecedented in modern history \u2013 but as usual, that depends on how precisely you define the precedents.<\/p>\n<p>First, the reports: NDTV quotes officials as saying that a blast at Bharathidasan Engineering College, in Natrampalli in India\u2019s Tamil Nadu state, killed Kamaraj and injured three&nbsp;others on Saturday at&nbsp;Bharathidasan Engineering College. A 2-foot-deep crater was left in the ground, and the shock wave shattered windshields and window panes around the site.<\/p>\n<p>At first, the explosion was blamed a \u201cdrone-like\u201d flying object or a bomb. But on Sunday, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa was quoted as saying that a meteorite caused the blast. About $1,475 (100,000 rupees) in relief was paid out to Kamaraj\u2019s family, and $370 was paid to each of the injured, NDTV quoted the minister as saying. Authorities said they recovered what appears to be a piece of the meteorite, but found no trace of explosives. Scientists still have to verify that the debris actually came from space.<\/p>\n<p>Embed from Getty Images<br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"display: inline-block; position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; margin: 0;\" src=\"\/\/embed.gettyimages.com\/embed\/509012502?et=a23crkoiTwVzKN59_hYkdg&amp;viewMoreLink=off&amp;sig=Dq-q5AuzIQ5UX-cEIC-e6ucuqE4My-3R0rRr738pJ9I=&amp;caption=true\" width=\"630\" height=\"440\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0;\">\n<p>\u201cThis is the first time in the history of meteorites falling that somebody died because of a meteorite falling and its consequences, in India or anywhere else,\u201d The Telegraph quoted S.V.S. Murty of India\u2019s Physical Research Laboratory as saying.<\/p>\n<p>NASA\u2019s review of the record agrees with Murty\u2019s assessment. The space agency says \u201cno human in the past 1,000 years is known to have been killed by a meteorite or by the effects of one impacting.\u201d&nbsp;Hundreds of people were injured by flying glass from Russia\u2019s&nbsp;Chelyabinsk meteor blast, which occurred nearly three years ago, but no deaths were directly attributed to that particular meteorite fall.<\/p>\n<p>The claim gets murkier if you go further back in history: A&nbsp;list of meteorite falls maintained by the International Comet Quarterly&nbsp;mentions a few reports of fatalities, including two people who may have been killed by the 1908 Tunguska blast over Russia. But the documentation behind those reports is poor.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s no question that last weekend\u2019s fatality could serve as the best-documented case of death by meteorite. And experts say it\u2019s only a matter of time before we face an asteroid threat on the scale of the catastrophic blast that wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.<\/p>\n<p>Fortunately, those experts are working on ways to anticipate the threat. Stay tuned for much more on the subject when the organizers of Asteroid Day conduct a news conference on Tuesday. You can watch it on YouTube at 6 a.m. PT.<\/p>\n<p><em>Hat tip to&nbsp;Ars Technica\u2019s Eric Berger&nbsp;and David Ropeik.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An artist\u2019s conception shows an asteroid entering Earth\u2019s atmosphere. (Credit: NASA) Death by meteorite is a&nbsp;common theme in science-fiction&nbsp;movies,&nbsp;but in real life, the chances of being done in by a falling space rock are virtually nil. That\u2019s what makes the reports about the death of Indian bus driver V. Kamaraj in an apparent meteorite strike [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4365,1519,301,5140],"class_list":["post-19469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-asteroid","tag-asteroids","tag-india","tag-meteorite"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19469"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19469"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19469\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}