Historical Events  Geography

How many people officially died in the 1908 Tunguska meteorite explosion?

MMDE: Hundreds

Current: None

There are many stories around what could have caused the massive explosion in Tunguska, Siberia in 1908. These range from UFO's to rips in the space time continuum, with the prevailing one being a little more mundane - a meteorite exploded miles above the area after heating up from blasting through the earths atmosphere.

What isn't in doubt is the extent of the wreckage it caused.

However, many are claiming they remember reports of many deaths, ranging from the hundreds to the thousands. You'd have thought this to be the case given the energy was 10-15 megatons, or about 1,000 times the amount in the bombs dropped on Hiroshima, yet amazingly today there are no reports of any direct deaths as a result.

80 million trees were flattened

The damage covered 830 square miles. There are unconfirmed reports of 2 people dying in the explosion, but these are unofficial.

There are many eyewitness and newspaper reports, with most people at the time thinking it was an earthquake. It is estimated it would have measured 5 on the Richter scale in any case, and had the same effect on shaking buildings.