Updated

Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (MS)

Bengaluru, May 20: The source of the sound that took the city dwellers by surprise and caused panic on the afternoon of Wednesday, May 20 has at last come to light. The residents are relived and calm now.

Around 1.45 pm on Wednesday, a huge blast like sound was heard in most parts of the city including places like Sarjapur, Whitefield, Electronic City, Marathalli, Indiranagara, Hebbal, J P Nagara and K R Puram. There were also rumours that it might be an earthquake. However, the officials of KSNDMC had clarified that there was no earthquake. This baffled the residents as to what is the reason that such a huge sound was heard in many parts of the city.

Sukhoi (file photo)

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has clarified all doubts and cleared the air. It said that the sound was generated when a war plane Sukhoi 30 took off from the HAL runway. When the warplane make a 90 degree take off, sound can be heard to a distance of 10 km according to the clarification given by HAL.

Many Bengalureans also took to Twitter and started giving their opinions on the source of the sounds. However, now the clarification by HAL has clarified the issue.

Earlier report

Loud sound, vibrations felt for miles in Bengaluru, reasons unknown

Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SHP)

Bengaluru, May 20: In a strange set of incidents, a loud noise was heard near Whitefield area in Bengaluru on Wednesday afternoon at 1.30 pm. However, other residents across the city claimed to have felt tremors and windows rattling for five minutes along with some asserting to have heard a thunderous sound.

In a report by The News Minute, Bengaluru police commissioner Bhaskar Rao was quoted as saying, "No damage was reported anywhere in the city and no calls have been made to 100. We have asked the Air Force Control Room to check if this was a flight." Rao maintained that the police department was still awaiting a response from the Air Force on the matter.

Whitefield (file photo)

The sound was heard as far as Cooke Town, Vivek Nagar, Ramamurthy Nagar, Hosur Road, HAL, Old Madras Road, Ulsoor, Kundanahalli, Kammanahalli, CV Raman Nagar, Whitefield and HSR Layout in the city. Several residents took to social media to state that they felt vibrations.

A jet aircraft could be heard flying over Bengaluru. There is speculation that the sound could be a ‘sonic boom’ from a fighter jet flying over the city. A sonic boom is the result of fast movement of aircraft – A thunderous sound is produced when these aircraft fly overhead faster than the speed of sound. A sonic boom is a phenomenon when shock waves are created in the atmosphere when an object moves faster than the speed of sound. Sound travels at 343 metres per second in the air.

Meanwhile, the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Management Centre (KSNDMC) have confirmed that the sound was not an earthquake. "Earthquake activity will not be restricted to one area and will be widespread. We have checked our sensors and there is no earthquake activity recorded today," Srinivas Reddy director of KSNDMC.

Some pointed out that Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) could be conducting regular flight tests of Light Combat Aircraft (LCA).

A HAL spokesperson has also confirmed that the sound was not produced from a HAL aircraft.

Back in 2005, a similar ‘sonic boom’ was heard in Bengaluru. Some pointed out that it was possible that Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) was conducting regular flight tests of LCA.