"They have a preliminary report of a close-approaching object but that is not confirmed yet‚" he said.
Cunnama described a meteor as "a small rock coming from space — an asteroid or similar" and said "it would have hit our atmosphere and burnt up in the upper atmosphere as the air pressure on it increased."
Such events are "actually quite common"‚ according to Cunnama. "A hundred tons of space rock debris enters the atmosphere every day‚ but for it to happen at night and somewhere where it is visible to humans is less common."
Witnesses from across the Cape turned to social media to share their experiences and validate their sanity‚ with many in disbelief about what they had seen.
Karlien Willemse‚ 25‚ saw the “bright light” of the explosion reflected in the waters of the dam she was fishing in near Durbanville‚ saying that it was a “sea-green colour and red on the outside”.