Ludhiana residents startled as sonic boom rips through city

While some rushed outside their homes, other took to social media to figure out what had happened. Later, Ludhiana police commissioner Kaustubh Sharma laid rest to speculations of an explosion and revealed that it was just a sonic boom. “We got it checked. It seemed to be just a sonic boom,” he said.

Two loud explosion-like sounds caused due to a sonic boom triggered panic among city residents on Thursday afternoon. While a loud thud was heard around 1.30pm, the second one was heard around 3.30pm across the city.

Later, Ludhiana police commissioner Kaustubh Sharma laid rest to speculations of an explosion and revealed that it was just a sonic boom. (HT File)

While some rushed outside their homes, other took to social media to figure out what had happened. Later, Ludhiana police commissioner Kaustubh Sharma laid rest to speculations of an explosion and revealed that it was just a sonic boom. “We got it checked. It seemed to be just a sonic boom,” he said.

A sonic boom is the sound associated with the shock waves created by an object travelling through air faster than the speed of sound. Sonic booms generate enormous amounts of sound energy, sounding much like an explosion.

Mega Sharma, a resident of Civil Lines said, “It was loud explosion like sound. It was so loud that my daughter got scared and started crying.”

Noted Punjab writer Gurbhajan Singh Gill said, “By all probabilities it could be a sonic boom as the Air Force station in Halwara is located near the city.”

Brigadier SS Gill (retd) also attributed the high-velocity sound to a sonic boom. The meteorological department at Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) said that no incident of thunder or lightning strike was reported in the city.