Meteorite Strike Kills Indian Bus Driver

A bus driver was killed and three others injured by a meteorite in India, according to the authorities.

If confirmed it would be the first recorded death by falling space debris in nearly 200 years.

Scientists are now investigating the blast at the engineering college in the southeast state of Tamil Nadu, which left a small crater and broken windows.

Chief minister Jayalalithaa Jayaram said: "A meteorite fell within the college premises."

The man "sustained serious injuries and died while on the way to the hospital," she added.

The victim's family has been awarded 100,000 rupees (£1,018) in compensation.

The bus driver was standing on a patch of grass near the college canteen when he was killed, while two gardeners and a student were also hurt, officials said.

A dark blue stone resembling a diamond was found at the scene.

Government officials initially thought the blast was caused by explosives leftover after building work, but no evidence of this was found at the site.

A district official said: "When no evidence of explosive material was found, we moved to the theory that it might be a meteorite.

"It is not confirmed yet as samples need to be analysed."

A team from the Indian Institute of Astrophysics is expected to visit the scene to collect samples.

The principal of the college in Vellore district, said: "It was a sound like nothing I've ever heard before.

"There was no smell at all, no fire, nothing."

The last reported death from a meteorite strike was in 1825, records show.

Simon Goodwin, an astrophysics expert at the University of Sheffield, said meteorite deaths are rare because the rocks usually burn up when passing through the Earth's atmosphere or land in the ocean or remote areas.

"When you look at the fraction of the Earth's surface that is heavily populated, it's not very much," he said.

In 2013, a meteorite exploded over central Russia, raining fireballs over a vast area and causing a shockwave that smashed windows, damaged buildings and injured 1,200 people.