Sonic boom rattles residents in Bengaluru

Bengaluru: A loud sound was heard by the residents of several areas across Bengaluru around 12.30 pm on Friday, reminding them of the sonic boom they had heard a year back. The sound was heard in Old Airport Road to Kengeri and Indian Meteorological Department's (IMD) here assured that it would find out with the mines department if any blasts occurred at that time.

According to the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC), there was no sign of any tremor or earthquake.

In a statement, KSNDMC said, "A report of loud sound by the local community was received from Kengeri, Rajarajeswari Nagar and Vijayanagar, Bengaluru today, between 12:00 to 12:45 pm. The data was closely analysed from our Seismic Observatory for any possible seismic signals of an earthquake. The earthquake data/record analysed for the above durations shows no signal of local tremor/earthquake."

While the sound was muted in some areas, the residents shared that their windows rattled under the impact. There was speculation that the sound could be a 'sonic boom' from a fighter jet flying over the city.

But Indian Air Force (IAF) released a statement denying that any flying activity or any known action from their side caused any loud sound in Bengaluru. "None of the IAF bases or units including ASTE was flying at that time".

Reacting to this loud bang, DCP South said, "It seems like a sonic boom. There is nothing on the ground. HAL is close by and over the past two days, Tejas sorties have been happening. They are ready for delivery and before that, they do the final sortie check. It looks like a sonic boom as of now. We have sent our forces all over but there is nothing on ground yet".

In May last year, the city had witnessed a similar incident, which the IAF statement said last year was a routine IAF test flight involving a supersonic profile that took off from Bengaluru airport and flew in the allotted airspace well outside city limits. "The sonic boom was probably heard while the aircraft was decelerating from supersonic to subsonic speed between 36,000 and 40,000 feet altitude," the defence ministry had said. It confirmed that the aircraft belonged to the Aircraft Systems and Testing Establishment and had flown in the allocated airspace outside city limits.

Explaining the unusual phenomenon, the Training Command headquarters of the Indian Air Force, said in a separate statement, "These (test flights) are done well beyond the city limits in specified sectors. However, considering the atmospheric conditions and reduced noise levels in the city during these times, the aircraft sound may become clearly audible even if it happened way out from the city."

"I was at home when I heard the boom, which was so strong that our doors and windows rattled," V Jyothi from Kumaraswamy Layout in Bengaluru said. A similar experience was shared by another resident, Jayaprakash, who said he heard it when he was in Bidadi. "The noise lasted three or four seconds. I rushed out to see where the explosion took place but could not find anything. This needs to be investigated," he said.