A meteorite has caused property damage to several houses in Rhineland-Palatinate. Eyewitnesses across western Germany reported a spectacular light show in the sky. Police confirm there is no longer any danger and no one was injured.
In the evening, a burnt celestial body impacted in Rhineland-Palatinate, causing damage to roofs and houses. According to police, damage reports came from the Hunsrück, the Eifel, and Koblenz. "This evening around 7 p.m., a burnt celestial body struck the roof of a residential house in the Koblenz district of Güls. No one was injured," the Koblenz police stated. Fire department and police were on site, and according to available information, there is no longer any danger.
The event caused excitement across large parts of western Germany. Eyewitnesses from Lower Saxony, Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland, Baden-Württemberg, and North Rhine-Westphalia reported a spectacular light show on social media. Citizens described it as a "brightly glowing flying object with a short fiery glow" or "fireball in the sky," as the Kaiserslautern police reported. There were speculations about a rocket, but there are "no indications of a safety-relevant event."
In Stade, Lower Saxony, a possible crash of airplane parts or celestial bodies was reported, leading to a major fire department operation supported by a naval helicopter. However, nothing was found. The situation center in North Rhine-Westphalia stated that there are no indications of damage in NRW so far.
Meteorites form when an asteroid enters Earth's atmosphere and breaks into smaller pieces, some of which burn up while others land on Earth.