Wellington, Sep 12 (DPA) A meteorite entered the atmosphere over New Zealand Tuesday creating a sonic boom that sent people running from their houses and was heard over 300 km from Christchurch in South Island, news reports said.

Thousands of people in Christchurch telephoned emergency services to report the boom, which shook houses and rattled windows, Radio New Zealand reported.

Some said they thought it was an earthquake or an aircraft exploding and eyewitnesses reported seeing a bright light streaking across the sky and plunging into a field.

Alan Gilmore, at the Mount John Observatory, Tekapo, said any object from space would cause a sonic boom when it came closer than 60 km to the earth.

The Newstalk ZB radio network quoted a scientist as saying a meteorite landed in New Zealand about once a year.