Forget satellites. These are the things that could kill you
YOU have bigger things to worry about than the European meteorological satellite that will soon crash into the planet. Let's start with hippos.
A ONE-TONNE European satellite will come dangerously close to human heads in hours, but while it sounds terrifying you have bigger things to worry about.
The chance of a human being killed by satellite debris is 65000 times lower than being struck down by lightning, according to the European Space Agency.
While US woman Lottie Williams claimed she was hit by space debris in 1997, in reality you are far more likely to die falling down the stairs or being gored by a cranky hippo.
YOUR CHANCES OF BEING KILLED BY ...
... a hippo - More than 2900 people are killed in incidents involving hippopotamuses each year in Africa (**)
... a catastrophic asteroid strike - 1 in 74,817,414
... an exploding firework - 1 in 50,729,141
... a bee-sting - 1 in 25,364,571
... a terrorist attack - 1 in 20,000,000 (*)
... a lightning strike - 1 in 2,271,454
... falling down the stairs- 1 in 157,300
SOURCES:
Most figures US only and were compiled by The Economist magazine unless otherwise stated.
* African Wildlife Foundation
** Statistic supplied by UN al-Qaeda/Tabilian Monitoring Team
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