Meteorite Illness in Peru

If this story gets pulled, the X-Files are really out there. Or it could just be a case of rural hypochondria?

A meteorite crashes in Peru, "in the high Andes department of Puno in the Desaguadero region, near the border with Bolivia".

Residents complained of headaches and vomiting brought on by a "strange odor," local health department official Jorge Lopez told Peruvian radio RPP.

Seven policemen who went to check on the reports also became ill and had to be given oxygen before being hospitalized, Lopez said.

Rescue teams and experts were dispatched to the scene, where the meteorite left a 100-foot-wide (30-meter-wide) and 20-foot-deep (six-meter-deep) crater, said local official Marco Limache.

"Boiling water started coming out of the crater and particles of rock and cinders were found nearby. Residents are very concerned," he said.