Schoolboy survives direct hit by meteorite

[zengrifter]

Schoolboy survives direct hit by
meteorite travelling at 30,000mph

By Eddie Wrenn
Last updated at 1:28 AM on 13th June 2009

The odds of it happening are astronomical, but not impossible, as one schoolboy found out when he was struck by a passing meteorite.

The rock flew down from space at speeds of 30,000mph, and grazed past 14-year-old Gerrit Blank as he made his way to school.

The meteorite continued on before ending its billion-year intergalactic journey on the pavement, leaving a smoking, foot-wide crater.

Gerrit was left with a scar on his hand, making him one of only a handful of people to have been struck directly by a meteorite.



In one hand Gerrit holds the meteorite and on the back of the other the graze it left can be seen


The student, from Essen, Germany, said: 'At first I just saw a large ball of light, and then I suddenly felt a pain in my hand.

'Then a split second after that there was an enormous bang like a crash of thunder.'