Strange: A loud ’boom’ in Bengaluru? Officials are investigating

mangaloretoday/ yahoo

Bengaluru, May 20, 2020: A loud noise was heard in Bengaluru on Wednesday afternoon around 1.30 pm near the city’s Whitefield area. Many Bengaluru residents across several areas in the city took to social media to state that a loud ‘boom’ had been heard in the area. While some residents said they heard a ‘boom,’ and a ‘thunderous noise,’ others felt tremors and windows rattling for as long as five seconds.

Bengaluru Police Commissioner Bhaskar Rao told TNM that no damage was reported anywhere in the city and no calls have been made to 100. “We have asked the Air Force Control Room to check if this was a flight,” he said, adding that they are waiting for the Air Force to confirm.

The sound was heard as far as Cooke Town, Vivek Nagar, Ramamurthy Nagar, Hosur Road, HAL, Old Madras Road, Ulsoor, Kundanahalli, Kammanahalli, CV Raman Nagar, Whitefield and HSR Layout in the city. Several social media users stated that they could feel vibrations for about five minutes.

There is speculation that the sound could be a ‘sonic boom’ from a fighter jet flying over the city. However, this has not been confirmed by the police or Air Force. A sonic boom is the result of fast movement of aircraft – the thunderous sound is produced when these objects fly overhead faster than the speed of sound. A sonic boom is a phenomenon when shock waves are created in the atmosphere when an object moves faster than the speed of sound. Sound travels at 343 metres per second in the air. 

A top police official told TNM that it could be a Sukhoi-30 jet flying over Bengaluru skies. The Air Force has not confirmed yet

Some pointed out that Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) could be conducting regular flight tests of light combat aircraft (LCA).

"We don’t know either. It has nothing to do with HAL aircraft," an HAL spokesperson told TNM, when asked about the incident.

TNM reached out to the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Management Centre (KSNDMC), who confirmed that it wasn’t an earthquake. "Earthquake activity will not be restricted to one area and will be widespread. We have checked our sensors and there is no earthquake activity recorded today," Srinivas Reddy, Director of KSNDMC.

There was also speculation that this could have been a crustal movement or tectonic movement. "Crustal movement will not create such a big noise. There will be a small noise. This much of noise may not come due to crustal. But I can say for sure its not an earthquake," Srinivas Reddy, Director of KSNDMC said.