Carancas

Ordinary chondrite, H4-5
Carancas, Chucuito, Puno, Peru, Fell: 15 September 2007, ~16: 45 UTC

The Carancas meteorite event occurred September 15, 2007 in Peru, near Lake Titicaca and the Bolivian border. Eyewitnesses reported saying, “Boiling water started coming out of the crater, and particles of rock and cinders were found nearby,” and that, “fetid, noxious” gases were escaping from the crater. The meteorite’s impact created a small crater in the soft clay soil, and approximately 600 villagers became ill after the event. Experts believed that the vaporization of troilite present in large quantities in Carancas, might have been the cause for the villagers’ illness. Villagers who visited the site after the impact also reported illness, though all who were affected reportedly recovered a few days later.

Carancas was classified by a team of scientists working at the University of Arizona. Found to be an H chondrite breccia, most Carancas pieces are without fusion crust and are light grey in color, with some visible chondrules and dark shock veins.