Image Credit: Prensa Libre
Reports in the Guatemala press say that a meteorite may have fallen at Melchor De Mencos a Guatemalan town on the border with Belize. Prensa Libre in its edition of 1 May 2012 says that residents of Melchor De Mencos observed a brilliant comet trail in the night sky around 10:30 on Monday 30 April, followed by a loud bang and earth tremor but that the object has not been found. Neighborhood residents rushed out of their homes to search for the remnants of the meteorite. Some stated that it had fallen in the El Arroyito area, while others said it had landed at El Arenal which is a village that is straddled by the Guatemala adjacency line.
The phenomenon was reported in the Twitter account of Emisoras Unidas of Guatemala and a report in the Latin American Herald says that “The director of Guatemala’s National Seismology, Vulcanology, Meteorology and Hydrology Institute said Tuesday that authorities are investigating a possible fallen meteorite in the northern province of Peten.
“Edy Sanchez told television stations that the authorities were alerted to the impact Monday night of a supposed meteorite in the Melchor de Mencos region, but that the report has not yet been confirmed.”
The Prensa Libre story says that the fireball was seen by communities that lie between Melchor De Mencos and Dolores, such as EL Cruzadero, La Polvora, La Blanca and Cida 20. The newspaper quotes Mr. Sanchez as saying that the phenomenon could be a meteorite or space debris and than an investigation was underway.