Meteorite Falls in Russian Urals

EUROPE NEWS
Updated February 15, 2013, 2:23 a.m. ET


Associated Press

MOSCOW—A meteor flew across the skies above Russia's Ural Mountains Friday morning, causing sharp explosions and injuring about 100 people, including many who were hurt by broken glass.

Fragments of the meteor fell in a thinly populated area of the Chelyabinsk region, the Emergency Ministry said in a statement.



Reuters

A contrail above an apartment block in the Urals city of Chelyabinsk; Russian officials said a meteorite or a shower of meteorites fell in the area, collapsing one roof and causing more than 100 injuries.

Interior Ministry spokesman Vadim Kolesnikov said 102 people had called for medical assistance following the incident, mostly for treatment of injuries from glass broken by the explosions.

Reports are conflicted on what happened in the clear skies. A spokeswoman for the Emergency Ministry, Irina Rossius, said there was a meteor shower, but another ministry spokeswoman, Elena Smirnikh, was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying it was a single meteorite.

Kolsenikov said about 600 square meters (6,500 square feet) of a roof at a zinc factory had collapsed.

Amateur video broadcast on Russian television showed an object speeding across the sky about 9:20 a.m. local time, leaving a thick white contrail and an intense flash.

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End Times Asteroid Meteor Shower in Russia ? Loud EXPLOSION Взрыв Че

End Times Asteroid Meteor Shower in Russia ? Loud EXPLOSION Взрыв Челябинск

nijamhit

Published on Feb 14, 2013


End Times Asteroid Meteor Shower in Russia ? Loud EXPLOSION Взрыв Челябинск

A powerful blast rocked the Russian region of the Urals early on Friday with bright objects, identified as possible meteorites, falling from the sky, emergency officials said.

"It was definitely not a plane," an emergency official told Reuters, without elaborating. "We are gathering the bits of information and have no data on the casualties so far."

No one was hurt in a meteor shower, an emergency official told RIA-Novosti. Local residents said they witnessed burning objects in the sky of the Chelyabinsk and Sverdlovsk regions.

A Reuters witness in Chelyabinsk reported hearing a huge blast early in the morning and feeling a shockwave in a 19-storey building in the town center.

The sounds of car alarms and breaking windows could be heard in the area, the witness said, and mobile phones were working intermittently.

"Preliminary indications are that it was a meteorite rain," an emergency official told RIA-Novosti. "We have information about a blast at 10,000-meter (32,800-foot) altitude. It is being verified."

The trace from a falling object could be seen in Yekaterinburg, some 200 kilometers (125 miles) southeast of Chelyabinsk, another Reuters witness said.

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Pieces from at least one meteorite fall in Russia, officials say

CBS/AP/ February 15, 2013, 1:30 AM

MOSCOW Fragments of at least one meteorite fell in the Chelyabinsk region some 930 miles east of Moscow, causing flashes in the morning sky and sharp explosions, Russian officials said Friday.

The office of the governor of the region in the Ural Mountains said in a statement that many calls about injuries and damage to buildings had been received. But there were no immediate confirmed figures or specific reports on damage.

CBS News sources say there's no word of serious injuries anywhere, but some people were hurt from broken glass.

Reports conflicted on the event: A spokeswoman for Russia's Emergency Ministry, Irina Rossius, told The Associated Press there was a meteor shower, but another ministry spokeswoman, Elena Smirnikh, was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying it was a single meteorite.

The ministry said some fragments fell near the town of Satka, about 120 miles from the regional capital city of Chelyabinsk.
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