Experts confirm fireball seen over city was a meteorite

EXPERTS have confirmed that a fireball seen blazing through the skies in the Bristol region on Sunday night was a meteorite.

Residents of Bradley Stoke say they saw the meteorite ‘fly across the sky’ at around 10.45pm on Sunday.

The UK Meteor Network has since confirmed the phenomenon, which was also reported to have been seen by observers in Gloucestershire, Cardiff and Southampton, eventually landed in the sea near France.

It said in a tweet: “Initial tracking of last night’s fireball event indicate it fell in the sea off the coast of France.”

Footage showed the bright light shooting across the skies at Southampton port.

One witness tweeted: “I was going South on M5 in Gloucestershire and saw it going east to west. It looked like it had broken into a number of pieces.”

One Bradley Stoke woman said she saw parts of the meteorite fall next to Baileys Court Inn pub.

Posting on a local Facebook group, she said: “Anyone else see the green fireball that fell near Baileys Court Pub?”

Another woman replied: “I just saw something shoot across the sky, it was too big for a shooting star, looked like something on fire.”

When the Post visited Baileys Court, staff in the local Tesco said they had “seen something about it on Facebook” but didn’t witness it themselves.

Another said: “I think I’ve just seen a fireball meteor over Cardiff. Of course it could be the fastest drone lit up, falling fast, a long rage missile (both unlikely) or something else. Not unusual for kids to handle fireworks year round, but that doesn’t align with the trajectory.”