The source of a mysterious series of ‘bangs’ that shook Perth appears to be fighter jets from the Republic of Singapore Air Force conducting an exercise off the coast of Western Australia.
Residents feared the deafening sounds were from an earthquake or explosions as the city was hit by terrifying tremors on Wednesday.
But aviation expert Geoff Thomas has explained that it was actually caused by the Singapore Air Force’s two F-15 fighter jets that were training about 55km off the coast.
“By going supersonic, they’ve broken the sound barrier and that makes a loud, sharp bang,” he said 9News.
Perth residents reported feeling vibrations and hearing a loud noise shortly after 11am AWST.
Perth Weather Live received almost 1,000 worrying reports about the incident, but Geoscience Australia was quick to assure locals that there had been no earthquake.
‘Geoscience Australia received multiple reports of earthquakes from Perth, WA at around 11:20am, but no earthquakes were detected,’ a spokesperson said.
However, the discovery only caused more confusion among the residents.
A series of ‘bangs’ over Perth were caused by two Singaporean fighter jets on Wednesday
“We felt it here in Hamilton Hill. It sounded like something huge hit our roof and we felt a vibration that lasted a fraction of a second,” one woman said.
Another said: ‘I was in Port Kennedy, my whole house shook and I heard bangs.’
A woman from south Perth reported hearing a loud ‘bang’ off the coast.
“We saw other neighbors going out to the balcony to see if there was smoke or something… People felt it and heard it,” she said
‘I was quite high up and you could see all the way down to the coast, as far as Rockingham, the harbour and Kwinana.
‘It sounded like it was coming from the water and from the shoreline it looked like it was coming from Rottnest Island.
“It was so weird. It was a bang, it lasted a second. It was shaking too. It didn’t feel like an earthquake, it felt like something had exploded, but there was no smoke.”
Matt Woods from the Perth Observatory even suggested that it could be a meteorite that had fallen into the ocean off the coast of Western Australia.
Hadrien Devillepoix, chief scientist at the Desert Fireball Network at Curtin University, said a fireball would have been visible in the sky if that had been the case.
“People would have seen a flash in the sky and if it made such a big bang, people would have seen a very bright shooting star that would have lasted a few seconds,” he said. The Western Australian.
“If it’s not a meteor, it must have been an explosion or a sonic boom.”
He suggested a possible explanation for the fact that no fireball was seen in the sky.
Perth residents, frightened by the ‘boom’ sounds, feared there had been an earthquake or explosion
“If the fireball had been a few hundred kilometers away, he might have missed it,” he said.
“But if it had been a far-flung, energetic event, more people in Perth would have heard about it.”
The Meteorological Office could not provide further clarity on the cause of the quake, as it only became known later.
“The Bureau is aware of these reports but has no further information about their source,” a spokeswoman said.
