Massive block of ice falls to earth... in family’s garden
SHE feared there had been an explosion when the house shook after a loud ‘boom’.
But on investigating, Eleanor Stephen discovered the cause was even stranger – a huge block of ice had fallen from the sky.
The 41-year-old was working at her friend’s Renfrewshire home when the ice plummeted into the garden yesterday.
The impact left a crater measuring 4ft 7in by 3ft 11in in the middle of the lawn – with fragments of ice scattered across the grass at the property in Busby.
Mrs Stephen said: ‘I was sitting at my desk and heard this big boom. I thought it was an explosion and I felt the house shake.
‘When I went downstairs the dog was acting strangely.
‘I looked out of the window and saw a hole with white stuff in it. It was splashed all over the grass. I went out and touched it – then realised it was ice.
‘If anybody had been in the garden, it could have killed them.’
Though the cause of the freak incident is unconfirmed, experts suspect the ice may have fallen from a passing aircraft.
Lyndsey Helliwell, 41, who lives at the house with husband Ross, 51, and daughters Elise, nine, and Nuala, 13, is just relieved no one was in the garden at the time.
She said: ‘It’s slightly concerning that it was so close to the house.’
Ice falling from aircraft is considered to be relatively rare.
Around 25 such incidents a year are reported to the Civil Aviation Authority watchdog although there are 2.5million flights a year in UK airspace.