MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 02nd February, 2019) The Cuban Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment has confirmed that a meteor flew over the island nation, saying that the fireball burst across the sky and blasted into multiple pieces.
On Friday, media reported, citing multiple witnesses, that a powerful explosion rocked the sky over the province of Pinar Del Rio in western Cuba. The US National Weather Service in Florida said it might have detected a meteor which subsequently landed in Cuba. Moreover, media reported that specialists had recovered fragments of the meteor. The Cuban ministry said in a statement on Friday that between 01:20 p.m. and 01:30 p.m. (20:20 and 20:30 GMT), the fireball was seen in the skies over Pinar Del Rio, leaving a cloud trail, before a powerful blast was heard in the area.
"According to our assessment, the cause [of the explosion] is the meteor that landed in the municipality of Vinales," the ministry said in a statement conveyed by the authorities' official newspaper Granma.
The statement added that researches had analyzed the apparent fragments of the meteor. The analysis showed that they consisted of iron, nickel and magnesium. The biggest fragment so far was found in the Palmarito area. It is 11 centimeters (4.3 inches) long.
The researches plan to continue examining the fragments in order to receive more information about the phenomenon.
The meteor is the seventh officially recorded meteor to affect Cuba.
