A supposed meteorite landed in south-eastern Peru and hundreds of locals have been ailing from suspected gases that spewed from the crater although Renan Ramirez, an engineer at the Peruvian Nuclear Energy Institute, said tests detected no radiation.

The inhabitants of the farming villages of Carancas and Desaguadero complained of head-aches and dizziness on the day the meteorite struck. The cause of the reported illness might have been the sulfur, arsenic or other toxins that may have melted in the heat created by the crash, Mr. Ramirez said.

"It is a conventional meteorite that, when it struck, produced gases by fusing with elements of the terrain," he added.

The crater shaped by the impact is 15 meters (50 feet) wide and 5 meters deep.

More than 150 people were affected by the supposed gasses according to Peru’s health ministry. Eyewitnesses said that a fiery ball fell from the sky and smashed into the Andean plain, local media reported.

Locals that fell ill said that they began ailing after handling a luminous substance at the site that they thought might be valuable.

"Blood tests are being carried out on most of the patients to determine what they're suffering from," the ministry said. "Specialists in epidemiology and environmental health are already in the area to collect samples of the supposed meteorite for analysis.''

Jorge Lopez, director of the region Health Ministry, said none of the inhabitants affected
by the toxins were critical condition, but they would have to undergo blood and neurological tests as a preventative measure in three to six months.

Police have sealed the zone of the impact, but Mr Lopez had nose and throat irritations after he approached the area despite wearing a mask.

An official report on the event from the geologists of Peru's Geophysics Institute is scheduled for today. Similar cases were reported in 2002 and 2004 elsewhere in southern Peru but never confirmed as meteorites, said Hernando Tavera, a geophysicist at the above mentioned institute.