The 'earthquake' that shook large parts of Merseyside and Southport has been confirmed as a sonic boom from an offshore testing trial.
A spokesperson for BAE confirmed to the ECHO the noise was a supersonic boom from a Typhoon aircraft that was undergoing a flight trial.
At around 11am today (February 15) people living in Ainsdale and other areas of Southport said their houses and windows began to "shake."
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People originally thought an 'earthquake' had hit the region - taking to social media to say they felt their houses "shaking" and claiming there was a "rumbling" noise.
One person said on a local Facebook group: "Hi has there been a mini earthquake? My house and windows have been shaken. I live on Kenilworth."
But the British Geological Survey confirmed it had "no record of any seismic activity in the area".
It said: "However we do have signals that may be consistent with an event of a sonic origin."
A spokesperson for British Geological Survey later added: "BGS has received numerous reports from residents mainly in the Lancashire area but also Merseyside, Greater Manchester and Cheshire who reported a felt event sometime around 11am today.
"Data from BGS seismic networks were examined and signals consistent with a possible sonic origin were recorded at that time.
"British Aerospace confirmed they did have aircraft airborne at the time and two RAF aircraft but cannot confirm at this time if any had gone supersonic."
One resident, from Ainsdale, who wanted to remain anonymous said his "whole house violently shook".
He told the ECHO : "There was a loud bang and the whole house violently shook. We went upstairs to see if a wardrobe or something had fallen but couldn't see anything out of place."
He added: "When we saw other people talking about it on Facebook we thought it might be fracking but then I saw a jet had been flying around Southport at a similar time so I now wonder if it was a sonic boom."
A spokesperson for the Royal Air Force confirmed to the ECHO at no point did an RAF aircraft go supersonic - but said a BAE Typhoon was confirmed in the area as part of a trial.
A spokesperson for BAE told the ECHO: "We can reassure people that the noise reported in the Southport area today was a supersonic boom from one of our Typhoon aircraft, which was undergoing flight testing in an offshore range area.
"As the UK’s sovereign combat air capability provider, we regularly conduct sorties as part of the Typhoon development programme and our broader role in safeguarding national security.
"We operate in airspace cleared for supersonic testing but apologise for any alarm caused to local residents.”
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