A stunned schoolboy is thanking his lucky stars after surviving a direct hit by a meteorite as it hurtled to Earth at more than 30,000 mph. Gerrit Blank, 14, was rushing to school when he saw a massive fireball heading straight towards him from the sky. "At first I just saw a large ball of light, and then I suddenly felt a pain in my hand. A split second after that there was an enormous bang like a crash of thunder," said Gerrit. The white-hot meteorite hit the ground so hard it left a foot wide crater in the tarmac and a three-inch long scar on Gerrit's hand where it bounced off him. Scientists are now studying the pea-sized meteorite which crashed to Earth in Essen, Germany. Chemical tests on the rock have proved it came from outer space
