Waves of Mysterious Sonic Booms Shake Ground, Shatter Windows in Iasi, Romania

Two waves of very loud explosions were heard in and around the Romanian city of Iasi around 10:30 UTC (13:30 local time) on June 1, 2016. Witnesses say that sonic booms were heard in a diameter of 50 – 75 km (31 to 46 miles) around Iasi, shattering windows and shaking the ground two times within 15 minutes.

Although there are no official explanations as of yet, reports we received describe the event as similar to the February 2013 meteor that exploded over Chelyabinsk, injuring more than 1 000 people and damaging more than 3 000 structures.

Our reader from Iasi said: “It felt like a group of waves, that hit one after the other. Some glass was broken in apartments, the furniture was shaken, but it was not a simple earthquake, and the sound was identical to a sonic boom and very very similar to this (Russia Meteor sound shockwave). The weather was very cloudy, so I can’t tell if there was any smoke or trace of anything. 15 minutes after the first wave there was another. It was less powerful, but it lasted longer, for about 5 minutes. After the bang, lights from the house and the TV turned themselves off and came back on after a few seconds.”

“No one knows what happened, but a lot of people heard and felt it, from the center of the city to the areas located some 50 or 75 km from the center. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any news about craters found or recordings of the event yet. There are some photos of shattered glass, and one local mall was affected, but officials either keep quiet or they answer it wasn’t them.”

According to Marius Bodea, the director of Iasi airport, a sonic boom was heard, but there were no aircraft in the area capable of producing this noise. “Airlines told us they had no problems. The only military aircraft that flew over the airport this afternoon was not supersonic,” Bodea said.

Gina Tiron, head of the Moldova Weather Center, said there were no reports of weather phenomena that would be capable of producing the boom. Representatives of the Romanian 15th Mechanized Brigade said they had no ongoing military exercise.

If you witnessed this event, have any information, pictures, videos, etc., please contact us.