Ice chunk from aircraft crashes through family home near London

by Deutsch Press-Agentur - June 29, 2000

London -- A chunk of ice crashed into a family home east of London, ripping a 30-centimeter hole in the roof after it apparently fell from an aircraft, British police said on Wednesday. Nobody was injured, but the incident has been reported to the Civil Aviation Authority. Constantine Farmakidis and his wife were out when the damage occurred on Tuesday afternoon, but their children, aged seven and nine, had just returned with their grandparents, and a carpenter was also in the house in Loughton, Essex. "My wife Debbie phoned me and at first I couldn't believe what had happened. I thought it was a joke, but the evidence was there and it was an extremely loud noise. The impact was heard six houses away by people in their living rooms," Farmakidis said. "It was just a solid block and it was pretty hot yesterday but it still hadn't melted two to three hours afterwards. It hit the roof on the slope and most of it ricocheted, but debris was scattered up to 25 metres away," he said.
Copyright 2000 dpa Deutsche Press-Agentur GmbH 

January 2nd, 2000 Surrey