Ecuador meteorite
© SCANSCAN verified the absence of radioactivity in the meteorite that fell in El Empalme, Guayas, Ecuador.
Images of people in Ecuador manipulating a rocky body with their hands went viral on the night of Wednesday, April 22, 2020 on social media networks. In the videos, residents of the Los Naranjos compound in El Empalme (Guayas) spoke of an object that had fallen from the sky. The area also suffered several power outages.


The following morning, the Government of Ecuador confirmed that it was a meteorite according to El Comercio (Ecuador).

"The Police cordoned off the area and SCAN evidenced that the body is not radioactive, which reassures us, for the well-being of the residents," said Rodrigo Salas , assistant secretary for Nuclear Control and Applications (SCAN) of the Ministry of Energy and Non-Renewable Natural Resources of Ecuador.


The specialists indicated that the space rock measures 20 centimeters (cm) high by 17 wide and that it formed a hole of 60 cm. and 30 cm. deep.

Chemical engineer Hólger Naranjo, from the Undersecretary of Control and Nuclear Applications of the Ministry of Energy and Non-Renewable Natural Resources, also collaborated in the inspection that was carried out around 14:30 on Thursday reported El Universo.

Tests were carried out with a radiation meter resulting in a 0.09 Sievert / hour range, which according to the expert did not represent any risk to life.


Other reported meteor impacts so far this year include: