Spain watches 'fireball shower'

Hundreds of Spaniards have reported seeing fireballs in the sky which experts say were probably caused by a meteoroid crashing into the Earth.

In the northern Palencia region, local radio reported sounds of explosions in the sky followed by earth tremors and clouds of smoke on a nearby mountain.

Behind a disco in Castellon province the fireballs started a small fire.

At first many feared that there was a plane crash, but that was soon ruled out by the aviation authority.

From one end of the country to the other, Spaniards have been witnessing an unusually spectacular astronomical display.

The fireballs that have been streaming across the skies could also be the result of a large piece of space junk - like a satellite entering the Earth's atmosphere.

But Jose Angel Docobo, director of the University of Santiago's observatory, says they were probably the result of a meteoroid colliding with the Earth.

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