On March 28 morning, a massive explosion rocked a suburb of the city of Akure, the capital of the southern Nigerian State of Ondo.
According to Nigerian sources, the explosion split Akure-Owo road and inflicted serious damage on dozens of houses, 50 to 100, as well as a school and churches.
Conflicting reports about the origin of the giant crater
1. Accident
Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, said that the explosion was a an accident.
According to the governor, a fire broke out in a vehicle within a convoy transporting explosives to a storage facility in a neighboring state, which caused the explosion.
#ÚLTIMAHORA | Supuesto impacto de Meteorito deja al menos 13 muertos y varias viviendas destruidas en Akure, suroeste de Nigeria. pic.twitter.com/3Jf6qBsof9
— Noticias El Salvador (@NotiblogSV) April 1, 2020
“Security personnel and other individuals transporting the ordinances noticed smoke from the vehicle.
“After several attempts to extinguish the resulting fire failed, the vehicle and its consignment ignited causing a massive explosion that was felt in Akure and its environs.
“I have directed that the area be cordoned off to allow the explosive ordinance department/bomb squad to extricate the vehicle buried underground because it is unclear if there are still explosives that are yet to be detonated.“
2. Terror attack
Initial, the massive explosion was thought to be caused by a terrorist attack with a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED) or even a small asteroid impact.
3. Meteor impact
According to some reports, the crater was caused by a meteor impact!
The explosion that rocked Akure, Ondo state capital, on Saturday, was caused by a giant space rock, a team of experts have concluded.
Remember NASA said some asteroid would be hitting earth anytime soon. I guess a debris hit this part of Akure causing this crater pic.twitter.com/vqAGhR6Jsf
— Meez™ (@Meez_Tweets) March 28, 2020
The experts led by Adepelumi Adekunle, a professor of geophysics and earthquake engineering at Obafemi Awolowo University, said the meteors impacted the location from “an angle of 43 degrees”.
There is no evidence of buried vehicles, buried ordinances or explosives at the site, and “foreign rocks and strange metallic objects” have been found within the crater crated.
His report read: “My Research group carried out a detailed analysis of the impact site. A circular impact crater with 21m diameter and 7.8m depth was found which suggest a natural phenomenon.
“Water was found oozing out from the edges of the crater. A preliminary in situ vibration, noise, seismicity, water analysis, radioactivity studies, rock and soil investigation were carried out.
“Our findings suggest that the impact of the blasting covers 1km radius of the surroundings of the crater. No evidence of fire or burning of anything was found within the vicinity.
“No evidence of radioactivity radiation was found within the crater and immediate vicinity. The field evidence point to a conclusion that a meteoric from an asteroid belt that travels at a great speed from space impacted the location at an angle of 43 degrees created an ejecta at South-Western part.“
These findings contradict the official ‘bomb’ cause. Meanwhile Nigerian authorities are now searching for any possible casualties of the explosion. Local source reported no missing people or deaths after the incident.
A similar meteor crash happened beginning of this month in Uttar Pradesh, India. More asteroid news on Strange Sounds and Steve Quayle. [PM News Nigeria, South Front, The Cable, PunchNG]
