On Wednesday, social media was abuzz with posts from Bengaluru with a huge boom sound people heard in the city. Many people posted on Twitter that a blast sound was heard in Bengaluru at around 1:30 PM, which caused window panes to shake.
Social media users informed that the sound was heard all over the city from electronic city to Whitefield.
Although many people wondered whether the sound was caused by an earthquake, as windows and other things in the houses vibrated, it was ruled out by the authorities. Srinivas Reddy, Director of the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC), informed that their sensors have not recorded any earthquake activitiy.
The Deputy Commissioner of Police of Whitefield said that the police are investigating the cause of the boom sound. The DCP said that there are no reports of any damage on the ground due to the boom. He added that this can be a sound created by a supersonic plane.
In fact, many people also speculated that it was a sonic boom created by a supersonic fighter jet of Indian Air Force. Several people also said that it was created by a Mirage 2000, and informed that the jets have been flying over the area since morning today.
Sonic boom
Sonic boom is the sound which is created when an object moves faster than the speed of the sound. When a supersonic jet accelerates and crosses the speed of the sound, it creates shock waves, which creates the very loud boom noise. The shock waves also cause windows and other objects in the vicinity to shack, which can be a frightening experience, and due to which people may mistake it for an earthquake.
Due to this reason, generally planes are not allowed to go supersonic over residential areas, but sometimes they need to do it, and today’s incident can be one such occasion. It may be noted that there is air force base near Bengaluru, and the fighter planes routinely fly from that base. As speculated, such a fighter plane, most probably a Mirage 2000, caused the sonic boom today afternoon over the Karnataka capital.
Update: As reported by TheNewsMinute, HAL has confirmed that the sound had nothing to do with them. Bengaluru Police is waiting for Air Force to confirm if this was a flight. Currently an investigation is going on regarding the same.