Schoolboy survives direct hit by meteorite travelling at 30,000mph

Schoolboy survives direct hit by meteorite travelling at 30,000mph

www.dailymail.co.uk

The odds of it happening are astronomical, but not impossible, as one schoolboy found out when he was struck by a passing meteorite.

The rock flew down from space at speeds of 30,000mph, and grazed past 14-year-old Gerrit Blank as he made his way to school.

The meteorite continued on before ending its billion-year intergalactic journey on the pavement, leaving a smoking, foot-wide crater.

Gerrit was left with a scar on his hand, making him one of only a handful of people to have been struck directly by a meteorite.

(visit the link for the full news article)

I know a lot of you mistrust the Daily Mail but this story is popping up in a few other more respected newspapers:

www.telegraph.co.uk...

Gerrit Blank, 14, was on his way to school when he saw "ball of light" heading straight towards him from the sky.

A red hot, pea-sized piece of rock then hit his hand before bouncing off and causing a foot wide crater in the ground.#

The teenager survived the strike, the chances of which are just 1 in a million - but with a nasty three-inch long scar on his hand.

He said: "At first I just saw a large ball of light, and then I suddenly felt a pain in my hand.

"Then a split second after that there was an enormous bang like a crash of thunder."

"The noise that came after the flash of light was so loud that my ears were ringing for hours afterwards.

"When it hit me it knocked me flying and then was still going fast enough to bury itself into the road," he explained.

Scientists are now studying the pea-sized meteorite which crashed to Earth in Essen, Germany.

"I am really keen on science and my teachers discovered that the fragment is really magnetic," said Gerrit.

Chemical tests on the rock have proved it had fallen from space.

Ansgar Kortem, director of Germany's Walter Hohmann Observatory, said: "It's a real meteorite, therefore it is very valuable to collectors and scientists.

"Most don't actually make it to ground level because they evaporate in the atmosphere. Of those that do get through, about six out of every seven of them land in water," he added.

The only other known example of a human being surviving a meteor strike happened in Alabama, USA, in November 1954 when a grapefruit-sized fragment crashed through the roof of a house, bounced off furniture and landed on a sleeping woman.

This is such a rarity I thought it deserved a mention on ATS.

The boy is lucky he wasn't seriously injured. Maybe he can sell it to pay for University or something!

www.dailymail.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 12-6-2009 by kiwifoot]

Yes it definetly deserves ATS! Wow. This actually proves that anything is possible, though not everything is probable.
Maybe it is NWO new way of targeting potential opposition?
Anyway, this guy is pretty lucky.Small scar vs life time experience is pretty good trade off.

That would be the world's coolest scar.

Free beer and chicks for life.

I'm surprised that he wasn't more badly injured.

I've heard of soldiers suffering shock trauma damage from .50 round just skimming them, and they won't be going a fraction of this speed.

What a cool scar to have though.....that would rival Harry Potters head IMO!

CX.

Holy crap!!

That is one lucky (or unlucky) kid. What are the odds he'll end up with superpowers?

reply to post by mythatsabigprobe


lol thats what i was thinking...perfect story to get the ladies for the rest of his life,nothing could match being hit by a meteor..NOTHING!

[edit on 12-6-2009 by Solomons]

imagine when the anti-christ reveals himself we see a scar in the hand lol

Thats awesome, haha.

I had quite a few little meteorites my Grandad used to find out and about, but i've lost them now.

[edit on 12-6-2009 by Lister87]

The title says direct hit, the it reads grazed :bnghd:

Either way, the kid is very lucky

Please add to existing thread Here

Closed.