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Meteorite crater was telco hoax |
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Written by Nick Farrell
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Tuesday, 27 October 2009 11:03 |
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Tele2 puts hand up
Mobile phone company Tele2 said it was behind a hoax meteorite
story which dominated headlines in Latvia yesterday.
The outfit's marketing department said it had dreamed up a
purported meteorite strike in Latvia as a publicity stunt. Apparently the stunt had meant to "inspire Latvia" and
give the world a rest from the economic crisis headlines about the
Baltic state's economic crisis.
In a press release the firm said it would reimburse the
cash-strapped emergency services who had rushed to the site. Interior Minister Linda Murniece dubbed the stunt a "cynical
mockery" and said it would cost $4630 to pay for all the emergency
teams and boffins who swarmed to the site.
Coppers warned that they would launch a criminal investigation if
the alleged meteorite strike near the small northern Latvian town of
Mazsalaca was a hoax. Boffins who rushed to the site thought that the 10-metre-wide
crater had not been caused by a meteorite.
The spade marks gave it all away as meteorites are not renown for digging their own holes. (Except in Stalin's purges. sub.ed.)
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