Loud boom heard and tremors felt in Bengaluru around 1.25 PM on May 20, 2020.

Defence Spokesperson from the Ministry of Defence tweeted that the sonic boom heard and felt were from the routine Indian Air Force Test Flight.

Defence Spokesperson from the Ministry of Defence tweeted that the sonic boom heard and felt were from the routine Indian Air Force Test Flight.Bengaluru on May 20, 2020, witnessed a loud sound in some parts of the city at around 1.25 PM leaving locals puzzled to speculate over it being an earthquake.

However, the Ministry of Defence clarified that the loud sound which was heard across eastern Bengaluru was due to deceleration of Indian Air Force test aircraft from supersonic to subsonic speed between 36,000 to 40,000 feet altitude in the given allotted airspace out of the city limit. They said 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 a person.

Even the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre clarified that it was not an earthquake as speculated by the people as the seismometers did not capture any ground vibrations which generally happens during a mild tremor.