Amysterious loud boom was heard in Mandya and Ramanagara districts of Karnataka on Friday afternoon. Police said nothing was found on the ground. However, they suspect it was a supersonic boom.

According to information, the natural disaster cell also did not pick up any seismic activity, ruling out the possibility of an earthquake.

Also Read | What is ‘Sonic Boom’: Meaning and examples of the phenomenon

Many residents took to Twitter and other social media platforms to report that the loud boom was heard in several Karnataka districts. Some said that tremors were also felt in parts of Bengaluru.

This is not the first time that Karnataka has witnessed such an explosion-like sound. Similar incidents were reported in May 2020 and later in July 2021.

In May 2020, a “loud boom” had rattled Bengaluru residents with anxious netizens speculating whether it was an earthquake or an explosion. But it was neither. The Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre had then ruled out an earthquake and said that the “loud boom” was an “unknown noise”.

Soon the Indian Air Force revealed that it was an IAF Test Flight involving a supersonic profile that took off from the Bengaluru airport, resulting in the sonic boom.

Later in July 2021, Bengaluru again witnessed a loud bang on a Friday afternoon, bringing back memories of the sonic boom in 2020. That time, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) had clarified that there was no unusual activity on its part that may have caused the bang.