Khopoli/Mumbai: “I saw a huge ball of fire in the air. It raced down to the earth so fast that before I could do anything, my house shook and all my utensils came crashing down,” said Gangaram Waghmare, caretaker of a farmhouse in Apata village near Khopoli, nearly 100 kms from Mumbai.

Like 6,000 other villagers, Waghmare is in a state of shock after the mysterious fireball explosions that shook Horale, Wavoshi, Chriner, Apta, Kharapada and other villages in the vicinity of Khopoli, Uran and Panvel at around 8.30 pm yesterday.

An almost twister-like effect was also detected in the jungle areas of Bazruddin, Wavochi and Karoshi, which saw trees swaying.

A series of explosions was heard simultaneously in these villages, and locals ran out of their houses fearing they would come crashing down.

Most villagers remained out side their homes all through last night. “The noise was so loud, for a moment I thought I had turned deaf. It was almost like a huge bomb blast,” said R Chaitanya, a resident of Pen. Chaitanya in fact left his home and rushed to his friend’s home in Panvel to stay there for a while.

What the “ball of fire” and “explosion” was, and what caused it, was however unclear till late last night.

While Air Traffic Control officials ruled out an aircraft crash, the Mumbai Meteorological Department ruled out any asteroid or meteorite fall, and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) officials in Mumbai dismissed the possibility of any part of a satellite falling.

Police and government officials too could not figure out what the “fireball” was. Ashok Mhatre, tehsildar of Khalapur, said he rushed out of his house on hearing the loud noise.

“When I came out to inquire, people told me they had seen something like an aeroplane,” Mhatre said.

A patrolling cop D D Bharsat in Bharapada village told Mid Day he saw fire with smoke and that its impact sent leaves and other articles from the ground circling into the air.

Bhaskar Wankhede, collector, Raigad, said, “We have sent teams across Raigad, but they haven’t found anything untoward. I have spoken to Navy officials at the Nhava Sheva base. They have radar facilities but even they haven’t detected any plane or any flying object.”

Officials from the Khopoli fire brigade were also not able to shed any light. “Some are saying it’s a plane crash, while according to others it was an earthquake,” said a fire official.

Superintendent Dnyaneshwar Phadtare of Raigad police said, “The villagers here have heard the sound but it is still not clear if it was an explosion, a quake or a fireball,” he said.

Police have also not found the exact place where the “explosion” occurred.

“Our men are travelling from village to village to find out the exact spot of the unidentified explosion. Many have heard the explosion but nobody has yet been able to pinpoint the spot,” Phadtare noted.

(Inputs by Vinod Kumar Menon, Bhupen Patel, Kashif Khusro, Gigil Varghese and Yogesh Naik)

They have no clue

I have received 80 calls since 8 pm yesterday from people who heard a deafening sound. We flashed wireless messages to police stations and other authorities to confirm details, but nothing is known yet. — Vijay Kamble, commissioner of police, Navi Mumbai

The Air Traffic Control has completed its investigation and has stated that all flights which took off from Mumbai and flights supposed to land at Mumbai airport are as per schedule. — Praveen Ohri, general manager (Aerodrome), Airports Authority of India

We are gathering information, but so far there is no information about any disaster or a plane crash. — Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil

We have only two satellites in the orbit, and we have ruled out damage to either. — An ISRO administrative officer

source:

http://ww1.mid-day.com/news/city/2005/january/101299.htm