Meteorite fireball lights up Turkey’s sky as it crashes towards Earth

ISTANBUL

A flash of light that shot across the sky over northeastern Turkey and sparked alerts on social media was caused by a “burning meteor” crashing to Earth, according to experts.

The footage of the fireball landing was recorded on security cameras in many provinces, including Sivas, Bingöl, Trabzon and Artvin.

The footages show the meteorite quickly coming into the shot as a bright light careens towards the Earth at the same moment it was violently torn apart.

The emergency teams of the country, the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) and the National Medical Rescue Team (UMKE), and the gendarmerie forces launched an investigation after reports of a “flash of light.”

“This is a typical meteor crash; in fact, it may have been shaking in some places,” said Ozan Ünalan, a scientist from Ege University, adding there was no need to panic.

It was reported that some citizens searched the lands in Sivas and Bingöl provinces to find the source of the “light beam.”

In 2015, several meteorites landed on an uninhabited location in Sarıçiçek, a small village in eastern Turkey’s Bingöl province.

Villagers earned over 1 million liras ($140,000) from the sale of the meteorites, which was later confirmed have broken off from the larger asteroid “Vesta.”