[imagesource:x/@SnowReportSA]

Word on the street is that something fierce—maybe a meteorite or even a satellite—crashed down near the Eastern Cape.

The ground shook, the sky sparked, and some locals were left with bated breath, wondering if it was an earthquake. However, according to Weather Guru, a Facebook page run by Garth Sampson, a former employee of the South African Weather Service, it was definitely not an earthquake, even though it is unclear exactly what happened.

Residents in the Mossel Bay area said they had heard two loud bang noises, as did another resident in Great Brak. Meanwhile, a trio were walking on the beach in St Francis Bay in the Eastern Cape when they saw what appeared to be a meteorite breaking up in the sky and swishing towards the ground. It is said to have landed somewhere near Patensie.

The Citizen notes that Zoë van der Merwe and her friends MC Ferreira and Stephen Sharp managed to capture what looked like a space rock in the Earth’s atmosphere on Sunday morning.

“They filmed what seems to be a meteorite breaking up and a loud explosion to go with it. The video was shot near St Francis and there are reports that objects fell into the ocean near Jeffreys Baym,” according to Snow Report SA and Van der Merwe’s mother Annie de Beer.

Numerous reports of it had been heard as far afield as the Outeniqua area outside George. Jazz Kusche, a St Francis Bay resident, told Group Editors that it sounded like a jet passing over, and caused the sliding doors in their house to rattle. There are many reports of what sounded like “an explosion” in the areas of Humansdorp, Patensie and Addo, and as far afield as Sedgefield and George.

The South African National Space Agency (SANSA) is yet to confirm if the sighting was in fact a meteorite. Since the sky has not been the same as what we know it, as there are 6,281 of Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites in orbit (as of July 2024), it could very well be descending space junk.

Then again, last week, rocket scientist Dr Eloy said asteroid debris from a moonlet that was partially exploded by a NASA spacecraft could soar across the skies of Earth and create a stunning light show. Peña-Asensio, from the Polytechnic Institute of Milan, made the claim after studying the effects of the 2022 mission.

“Their [the rock pieces] small size and high speed will cause them to disintegrate in the atmosphere, creating a beautiful luminous streak in the sky,” the expert told Universe Today of the potential outcome.

Snow Report was also sent photos of what appear to be meteorite fragments from Kirkwood in the Eastern Cape by Jes after they were found by her daughter while still warm.

A meteor exploded over the Eastern Cape this morning. #uapX#ufoX #ufotwitter #SouthAfricahttps://t.co/8bcpa8roL4 https://t.co/LZbkqTogVT pic.twitter.com/DFoizmpseL

— DISCLOSED AWARENESS (@DsclsdAwareness) August 25, 2024

Reports of the event were received by Snow Report from Wilderness, Hoekwil, George, Somerset East, Nelson Mandela Bay, between Upington and Grobblershoop and between Noupoort and Middelburg. They have also posted a video shot from Port Elizabeth (Gqeberha) by Elsje below.

[source:citizen&mosselbayadvertiser]