The fall occurred in a heavily populated area in and around the city Mbale. A loud explosion was heard which persisted for some time as a rumbling noise. For about two minutes a grayish-white smoke trail was seen. A meteorite shower fell over an area of about 3 x 7 km. The stones hit several buildings, and a boy was harmlessly hit in the head with a small 3 gm stone which had been slowed down considerably by its passage through a canopy of banana leaves (making this fall, along with Sylacauga, one of only two verifiable incidents of a meteorite striking a human being). An expedition was organized by the Dutch Meteor Society, the Leiden Observatory, and Makerere University between August 29 and September 5; it located 48 impact positions of masses between 27.4 kg and 0.1 g. Together with material found in the months after the fall, 426 stones were recovered. The Ugandan military and other citizens took it upon themselves to break many of the stones, grind up the material into a fine powder and drink it with liquid, as it was assumed that their god had sent a cure for AIDS to them from the skies. Click HERE to see video footage taken around the time of the Mbale recovery.