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Explosion That Rocked City Was So Powerful, Scientists Thought It Was a Meteor Impact

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If a massive meteor left a giant crater somewhere on Earth, how long do you think it would take someone to say, “That’s so 2020?”

No doubt people would be wondering if the asteroid were glowing purple or giving off some kind of primordial ooze. There would be jokes about whether this could have wiped out life in advance of the presidential election. There might be suggestions that we’re living in some kind of alternate timeline when we were all wiped out by the meteorite and this is all just a fever-dream happening in our minds.

I’m not sure whether it was a glowing B-movie meteor or whether it wiped out all life and we’re all just living inside our fever dreams these days. Whatever the case, a meteor was what, for a few days, some people were saying hit the southwestern Nigerian city of Akure earlier this year.

Confusion began almost immediately after the explosion on March 28.

The original report was that a truck full of explosives had blown up near the Akure-Owo Expressway, cutting off a section of the highway, however.

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Two days later, PM News Nigeria reported on an investigation from Adekunle Abraham Adepelumi of the Obafemi Awolowo University, which dispatched investigators.

“My research group carried out a detailed analysis of the impact site. A circular impact crater with 21m diameter and 7.8m depth was found which suggest a natural phenomenon,” Adepelumi said.

“Water was found oozing out from the edges of the crater,” he added.

“The field evidence point to a conclusion that A METEORIC FROM AN ASTEROID BELT THAT TRAVELS AT A GREAT SPEED FROM SPACE IMPACTED THE LOCATION AT AN ANGLE OF 43 degrees created an ejecta at South-Western part,” the report continued.

It went on to say investigators found no “evidence of buried vehicle, buried ordinance or IED was found. However, crack opening that vary in thickness from 3mm to 4 metres occurs on the wall of most of the buildings but not at the base of the buildings.”

“Also, foreign rocks and strange metallic objects were found within the crater. Most of the destruction occurs on top and roof/ceilings of the buildings.”

This began to get attention outside of the Nigerian news media, as well — including with former NASA scientist James O’Donoghue.

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However, it quickly became apparent that maybe the original reports and the authorities were telling the truth here.

Well, one wouldn’t necessarily store explosives here, but it also turned out to be a good place to abandon them if things went bad:

And, indeed, that seemed to be the case:

But, alas — wouldn’t a meteor touching down in Africa have been officially the most 2020 thing ever?

This isn’t even talking about the potential fallout. Granted, it likely wouldn’t have contained alien life, but we don’t know what would have happened if it would have. Just think: The end of all life on Earth, having ended up here in the one continent that’s been surviving the coronavirus crisis relatively intact thus far.

You have to admit it’s been an annus horribilis when we’re almost sorry a meteor didn’t end up killing all life on Earth. It would have almost been relatively painless.

Alas, no such luck. We didn’t even notice.

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C. Douglas Golden is a writer who splits his time between the United States and Southeast Asia. Specializing in political commentary and world affairs, he's written for Conservative Tribune and The Western Journal since 2014.
C. Douglas Golden is a writer who splits his time between the United States and Southeast Asia. Specializing in political commentary and world affairs, he's written for Conservative Tribune and The Western Journal since 2014. Aside from politics, he enjoys spending time with his wife, literature (especially British comic novels and modern Japanese lit), indie rock, coffee, Formula One and football (of both American and world varieties).
Birthplace
Morristown, New Jersey
Education
Catholic University of America
Languages Spoken
English, Spanish
Topics of Expertise
American Politics, World Politics, Culture




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