A meteorite crashed overnight into a forest near Managua’s international airport, Nicaragua’s Geophysics Institute confirmed yesterday.

The meteorite jolted hundreds of residents of the capital out of bed and left a crater 12 metres wide and 5.5 metres deep, according to the newspaper La Prensa .

People ran from their homes in fear, believing an earthquake had struck when they heard the explosion at 11.05pm local time on Saturday, the report said.

Wilfried Strauch, a German geophysicist with the institute, said the impact caused a light seismological wave, but no streak was observed because the meteorite crashed into the Earth at an angle of about 50 degrees.

About five meteorite strikes are recorded annually worldwide.

- dpa