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 The loud explosion occurred around 11 p.m. on Saturday on the
outskirts of Managua near the airport, said Wilfried Strauch from
the Nicaraguan Institute of Earth Studies (Ineter) in an interview
on a government TV channel. No one was injured.
Strauch said that Nicaragua is asking the United States for expert
help to investigate the event, which was picked up by seismic
sensors.
"All the evidence that we've confirmed on-site corresponds exactly
with a meteorite and not with any other type of event," said Jose
Millan, also from Ineter.
 "Firstly, we have the seismic register which coincides with the time
of impact, and the typical characteristic that it produces a cone in
the place of impact." Strauch said they had not been able to determine the composition of
the supposed meteorite as they were not sure whether it had
disintegrated on hitting ground or if it remained buried.
"We need to celebrate the fact that it fell in an area where, thank
God, it didn't cause any danger to the population," Millan said.
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Nicaragua has more than 20 volcanoes and is regularly shaken by
earthquakes, so many locals initially thought a quake caused the
loud bang.
(Reporting by Ivan Castro; Writing by Gabriel Stargardter; Editing
by Eric Walsh)
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