A meteorite and a mysterious illness

Armagettin’ me sick.

Mystery Mob!!

The Carancas meteorite is estimated to be one of the largest asteroid impacts of the last century, producing a crater with a diameter of 13.5m and a depth of 4.5m. But that’s not the strange part. 

Around 200 people from the local community developed a mystery illness, with a small number of them requiring medical attention. So what happened? We’ll discuss it. 

But before we do, time for the answer to Wednesday’s riddle: 

I speak without a mouth and hear without ears. I have no body, but I come alive with wind.

What am I?

An echo! Hope you got it. You’ll need to solve a few riddles in our Private Detective virtual series. (Picture a mix between Hunt a Killer, escape rooms, and 3D home tour technology. It’s dope.) 

Now, back to this meteorite...

The sky is falling

On September 15, 2007, a monitoring post for the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in Bolivia picked up a range of atmospheric vibrations. But it wasn’t any missile. Instead, it was the explosion of a meteorite, thousands of meters above the Earth.

The meteorite was traveling approximately 10,000 miles per hour when it struck the Earth, hitting the small village of Carancas at 11:45 am. The impact produced tremors equivalent to a 1.5 magnitude earthquake. Some nearby locals were apparently thrown to the ground and buildings incurred minor damage as a result.

The Carancas meteorite is estimated to be one of the largest asteroid impacts of the last century, producing a crater with a diameter of 13.5m and a depth of 4.5m. 

Curious locals went to inspect the site, initially thinking that there may have been a plane crash. Marco Limache, a local officer who was one of the first on the scene, stated that boiling water was coming out of the crater. He also noticed a foul smell, and he thought harmful gases were leaking from the crater.

Scientists from the Mayor de San Andres University (Bolivia) determined that the meteorite had likely made its way from an asteroid belt that exists somewhere between Mars and Jupiter, roughly 110 million miles away from Earth.

You may be surprised to hear that there are roughly 500 meteor impacts each year, so what makes this event unique? Glad you asked. 

Villagers who went to visit the impact site started to develop an unexplained illness.

Yikes.

The Mystery Illness

Around 200 people from the local community developed this mystery illness, with a small number of them requiring medical attention. 

Symptoms ranged in severity and included skin injuries, nausea, headaches, diarrhea, and vomiting. There were also numerous reports of the death of local livestock.

What could have been the cause of this mysterious illness?

There have been many theories; let's take a closer look at a few of them.

Psychosomatic in Nature?

Initially, the mayor of Carancas thought that the illness might have been psychosomatic, and he asked a local shaman to perform a cleansing ritual to help calm the residents. 

The people of Carancas also decided to stop drinking the local water supply fearing that the water might have been contaminated.

A More Scientific Approach

Renan Ramirez of the Peruvian Nuclear Energy Institute took a more scientific approach and suggested that the illness could have been caused by toxic chemicals that may have melted after the meteorite strike.

Don Yeomans, who at the time was head of NASA's Near-Earth Object Program, shared similar views. He said that the illness was more likely to have come from under the group than from the asteroid itself. 

He noted that the bubbling crater was indicative of hydrothermal activity, suggesting that the foul smells reported may have been due to a gas leak. (Ah, the ole “it’s just a gas leak explanation. Sure, pal.) 

So what was it then? Science, you’re up.

By September 21, it was concluded that the illness was most likely caused by arsenic poisoning. 

Scientists from the Peruvian Institute of Geology concluded that the heat released from the meteors impact caused arsenic gas to be released from an underground water supply. This may sound unusual, but natural arsenic deposits are relatively common in Peru, making this a pretty good theory.

Most meteors tend to impact the Earth at low temperatures. However, the large iron content present in the Carancas meteor allowed it to retain heat while entering the Earth's atmosphere.

While there was no clear-cut explanation for the illness, it is generally accepted that the inhalation of the toxic gases released from the impact crater was indeed the cause. 

Drill deep:

If you found this article interesting and want to read about similar stories, check out the blog over at MeteoriteRecon.

Any theories of your own? Let us know what you think in the comments!

As always, 

Stay ‘spicious 

-Andy & Mark

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