A meteor has rocked the skies of western Cuba, exploding mid-air, shattering windows and raining charred meteorite rocks on people’s homes. Before its spectacular demise, the space rock was seen flying above Florida.
The meteor exploded near the town of Viñales, in the Pinar del Río province, Friday, with witnesses reporting hearing two loud blasts as it disintegrated. The body left a huge trail of smoke in the sky and showered the ground with small rocks.
The terrifying celestial event took place in the clear light of day, and locals managed to catch the sky spectacle on their mobile phones.
Local channel TelePinar’s reporter Fátima Rivera Amador was one of the first people to post what looks like pieces of meteorite. Close-up pictures of her holding charred rocks with whitish material on the inside have been shared on social media.
Just before the explosion above Cuba, the meteor was observed from the US. The National Weather Service in Key West reported that it was seen over the Florida Keys, as far north as Marathon.
The explosion, which reportedly rattled some windows in the town, has also caused a great deal of confusion, with some outlets first reporting it as a crash of a large plane.
An “independent journalist” Ignacio Luis Gonzalez Vidal went even further and claimed that it was a military aircraft full of Cuban soldiers returning from Venezuela. No evidence to back up the bold claim was provided.
Cuban authorities said the explosion was not man-made and was in fact just a meteorite. It was made primarily of metal, not rock, containing iron, nickel and magnesium. The largest chunk found on the ground was about 11cm, the Cuban science ministry reported in Cuban newspaper Granma.
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