Bengaluru, May 20: Hours after a loud thundering noise created panic in parts of Bengaluru on Wednesday making people wonder if it was an earthquake or a blast, the Defence Ministry said that the sound was made by a test flight. A statement issued by the Ministry spokesperson clarified that the test by Indian Air Force (IAF) was being conducted outside the city area, but the sound of a sonic boom is capable of being heard upto a range of 65-80 kilometre.

"It was a routine IAF Test Flight involving a supersonic profile which took off from Bengaluru Airport and flew in the allotted airspace well outside City limits. The aircraft was of Aircraft Systems and Testing Establishment (ASTE),"  Defence spokesperson of the Ministry of Defence said.  Check Funny Memes and Jokes on Bangalore's Mysterious Loud Noise.  

"The sonic boom was probably heard while the aircraft was decelerating from supersonic to subsonic speed between 36,000 and 40000 feet altitude," he added.

"The aircraft was far away from the city limits when this occurred. The sound of a sonic boom can be heard and felt by an observer even when the aircraft is flying as far away as 65 to 80 kilometres away from the person," the spokesperson further said.

Earlier, people took to Twitter, to share the experience, thinking it was an earthquake. However, the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Cell (KSNDMC) officials had ruled out the occurrence of an earthquake and said the loud sound reported in the state capital was not due to an earthquake.

In a tweet, the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre said the seismometers did not capture any ground vibration as generally happens during a mild tremor and the activity is purely a loud unknown noise. "Earthquake activity will not be restricted to one area and will be widespread. We have checked our sensors and there is no earthquake activity recorded today," Srinivas Reddy, Director of KSNDMC said.

Take a look at the Tweets:

Also,  Karnataka State Disaster Management Authority Manoj Rajan ruled out the possibility of any earthquake and said it needed to be investigated. "We have 12 seismic monitoring centres in Karnataka but none have reported any seismic activity," Rajan said.  Bengalureans revealed that the booming sound was heard across the city right from the Kempegowda International Airport off Devanahalli in the north to Kengeri and Electronic City in the South.  Bengaluru police commissioner Bhaskar Rao said there was no damage reported anywhere.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 20, 2020 11:06 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).