Residents in the western district of Turkey's capital Ankara were frightened by what sounded like a loud explosion in the second half of the day on July 23. The governorate later issued a statement explaining that the loud bang was caused by an F-16 breaking the sound barrier during a test flight. When an aircraft breaks the sound barrier, this causes a loud bang, which is often mistaken for an explosion by people on the ground.
Several twitterians were able to make successful guesses as to the cause of the "explosion."
While others expressed relief when they learned that nothing terrible had happened.