Bengaluru: What exactly happened in the city yesterday? This was the reason behind the 'thundering' sound
Bangalore news: The loud sound heard in many areas of Bengaluru had become a topic of discussion on social media last afternoon.
Representational image | Photo Credit: PTI
Bengaluru: A 'thundering' sound heard in several areas of Bengaluru on Wednesday afternoon left the panic-stricken residents wondering whether the city was hit by an earthquake. Soon, Twitter was abuzz with speculation as regards what could have caused the loud sound, which was heard across the city from the Kempegowda International Airport in the North to Kengeri and Electronic City in the South.
While some suggested it to be an earthquake, some wondered if an explosion had taken place.
A Karnataka State Natural Disaster Management Committee official later ruled out an earthquake as the cause of the sound, saying no ground vibration was detected by seismometers.
It was late last night when the Indian Air Force clarified that the sound could have been of a ‘sonic boom’.
"It was a routine IAF test flight involving a supersonic profile, which took off from Bengaluru airport and flew in the allotted airspace outside the city limits," tweeted the Defence Spokesperson (PRO) Bengaluru, Ministry of Defence.
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The fighter aircraft belonged to the IAF's Aircraft Systems and Testing Establishment (ASTE), which uses the defence airport of the state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd in Bengaluru’s eastern suburb for test flights.
The test pilots and flight test engineers of ASTE test out all military aircraft.
“The sonic boom was probably heard while the aircraft was decelerating from supersonic speed between 36,000 and 40,000 feet altitude.”
“The aircraft was far away from the city limits when this occurred. The sound of a sonic boom can be heard and felt by an observer even when the aircraft is flying as far away as 65 to 80 kilometres away from the person,” the official said in another tweet.