Bengaluru, Nov. 26: A loud sound similar to that of an explosion or sonic boom was heard on Friday morning in Rajarajeshwari Nagar, Nagasandra, Banashankari, Vijaynagar and other areas by social media users.
According to police, direction of the sound was reported from Bidadi, which is not only an industrial hub but also home to several quarry businesses.
While several social media users shared that the sound was heard around 12.15 pm on Friday. “Just now heard a loud explosion sound in Bengaluru, then doors and windows vibrated. I felt this in Rajarajeshwari Nagara. #Bengaluru #Bangalore #SonicBoom? Others felt too??” a social media user posted.
As per tweets by Bengaluru citizens, the sound was heard in surrounding areas in Bengaluru south such as Rajarajeshwari Nagar, Banashankari, Vijaynagar, Uttarahalli and Kengeri and some of users also complained that they had felt some slight tremors as well.
It is not yet known what caused the loud sound in Bengaluru. In a statement released by the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC) ruled out any seismic activity that could have caused the loud sound and slight tremors.
The KSNMDC said that reports of sound associated with mild vibrations by the local residents was received from Hemmigepura, Kengeri, Jnanabharathi, Rajarajeswari Nagar and Kaggalipura, Bengaluru on Friday (today, dated 26.11.2021) between 11.50 am – 12.15 pm.
“The data was analysed from our Seismic Observatories for any seismic signatures or possible earthquake signals during the said time period. The seismographs show no signatures of local tremor or earthquake,” the KSNDMC said while ruling out the possibility of an earthquake as raised by the social media users..
This is not the first time that such an incident of loud sound being heard in Bengaluru. In July this year, several residents in the areas of Sarjapur, Benson Town, Ulsoor, ISRO layout and HSR layout had taken to social media and complained that they heard a loud ‘thud’ and a ‘boom’ sound. Then too some residents even said that their windows were rattled by the sound.
While then too there was speculation that the sound could have been a ‘sonic boom’ generated by a fighter jet flying over the city, neither the police nor Air Force offered any explanation at that time.
However, the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) had maintained then that none of its flights made the noise. The sound was heard in areas like Cooke Town, Vivek Nagar, Ramamurthy Nagar, Hosur Road, HAL, Old Madras Road, Ulsoor, Kundanahalli, Kammanahalli, CV Raman Nagar, Whitefield and HSR Layout.
But, when a similar ‘boom’ sound was heard in Bengaluru in May last year, the Indian Air Force had confirmed that it was sonic boom made by a Sukhoi 30.
A sonic boom is the result of an object moving faster than the speed of sound, which travels at 343 metres per second in the air. The phenomenon creates shock waves in the atmosphere, which in turn leads to the loud sound being produced.
