Onesi - Thousands of people have flocked to the Omusati Region out of curiosity to view a small piece of meteorite that landed in a
mahangu field in the village of Oshika, in Onesi Constituency, yesterday morning.
The incident created fear and panic among villagers who suggested the 'strange object' had something to do with the recent commotion over the 12 South African aircraft that were released after days of grounding at Ondangwa Airport. The aircraft of South African origin were grounded for several days and then sent back to South Africa, because they had no permits to use Namibian airspace.
People who came from all over the five northern regions, including the Kunene Region, flocking to Oshika, expressed fears that the tourists may have had something to do with the 'strange' object that fell in the mahangu field of Andreas Kamafo Ningilenimo.
"Maybe those people who came here with so many aircraft are responsible for this. Maybe that object is poisonous, we are scared, we won't even want to get close to it. If it is not taken away, we will not cultivate near it," said Selma Shikongo.
A piece of meteorite, the of a size of a small ball or two human fists put together made such an impact that people within a radius of over 200km were able to hear the explosive impact, feel the resulting tremor and observe the blinding light that followed as it landed.
Comment: The eyewitness descriptions are very interesting because they synch with historical accounts of comets doing very strange things high up in the sky during past times of increased cometary flux. Clearly then the ancients were not imagining things... they were witnessing the electrical interaction of cometary bodies that appear to change direction, stand still, suddenly begin spinning, etc. as they discharge the Earth's atmosphere.
See here and here for recent videos of comet fragments pulling off spectacular celestial maneuvers. Note in particular this video report from a very similar event almost exactly three years ago in the same part of Australia.