A giant fireball which is supposedly suspect to be a meteor was spotted flashing across the sky and crashing into northwestern China’s Yushu City on Wednesday, leaving residents stunned.
Videos of the incident which have gone viral showed a bright fireball streaking across and lighting the dark sky.
A giant fireball has been spotted flashing across the sky and crashing into a county in southern #China.
— Mete Sohtaoğlu (@metesohtaoglu) December 23, 2020
Footage taken by stunned locals shows an unidentified object exploding into a blazing sphere as it plunges at a fast speed towards the earth.
📹 pic.twitter.com/DmAQDhkZ7G
According to a Daily Mail report, it is not immediately clear what the ball of fire is, but local media are suggesting the possibility of a meteor. Some experts believe that the object was a bolide, an extremely bright meteor.
A local named Dan Ba, who witnessed the incident while taking his child to school, said that the bolide started very small, but three minutes later it became very big and bright. Many other locals reported hearing loud bangs.
The fireball was also video-recorded by passengers on a plane traveling from Xi’an to Lhasa as it lightened up the sky. Several videos and photos of the mysterious event were shared on social media.
More videos from the event
A super bright fireball stunned people living in west part of Qinghai and east part of Tibet in China at 7:23 this morning! pic.twitter.com/DskUwtBXuH
— Renjiang Xie （Jason ）解仁江 (@JasonXie1977) December 23, 2020
As the video goes viral across the social media platforms, a Twitter user also said a similar incident happened in Alabama, where a meteor shone brightly in the skies.
He wrote,
“Today two strange and sensational events took place in Qinghai China and in Marshall County Alabama USA. A Meteor makes a LANDFALL in Qinghai while in Alabama a Meteor SHINES BRIGHT in the SKIES. We will be needing astrologers to help us MAKE SENSE out of the strange events.”
Today two strange and sensational events took place in Qinghai China and in Marshall County Alabama USA. A Meteor makes a LANDFALL in qinghai while in Alabama a Meteor SHINES BRIGHT in the SKIES. We will be needing astrologers to help us MAKE SENSE out of the strange events. https://t.co/Csrpk8yuCR
— jerryo98 (@jaydchilly) December 23, 2020
China’s Earthquake Networks Centre through its social media, also confirmed that a suspected bolide landed near the border between Nangqian County and Yusu County at 7.25am, but no one was injured.
