Impact event leads to 600 people sick

From the department of The-Andromeda-Strain was-Michael-Crichton's-only-decent-novel:

Some 600 people in Peru have required treatment after an object from space - said to be a meteorite - plummeted to Earth in a remote area, officials say.

They say the object left a deep crater after crashing down over the weekend near the town of Carancas in the Andes.

People who have visited scene have been complaining of headaches, vomiting and nausea after inhaling gases.

A team of scientists is on its way to the site to collect samples and verify whether it was indeed a meteorite.

It's unlikely to be an extraterrestrial pathogen - more likely to be gases released from the earth's surface as a result of the impact.