[meteorite-list] Fireball Explodes Over China

[Ron Baalke]

http://www.news24.com/News24/Backpage/Offbeat/0,,2-1343-1347_1635191,00.html

UFO 'explodes' in China
new24.com (South Africa)
December 13, 2004

Beijing - An unidentified flying object, or UFO, passed across the large 
north-western Chinese city of Lanzhou and apparently exploded in the suburbs, 
state media said on Monday. 

The unusual sighting of two bright trails of light, reported by several 
witnesses, took place on Saturday shortly before midnight, the China Times 
reported. 

Police, working on the theory that it was a meteorite, went to investigate 
the matter, but as of early Monday they had found no evidence of what caused 
the nightly phenomenon, an officer said by telephone. 

A taxi driver told the paper he was in his car when everything suddenly 
became "as bright as day." 

When he pulled over, he saw a fireball with a tail of about three metres 
darting across the sky, he said. 

One witness who was on the late shift at his company reported the courtyard 
outside his office was suddenly bathed in a ghostly red light as the object 
passed overhead, the paper said. 

Others said they heard a huge explosion and felt as if an earthquake had 
struck. 

China has been hit by several waves of UFO sighting in recent years, and the 
country has a research association devoted to the study of possible 
extraterrestrial visits.