400 injured as meteor fireball screams across sky in Russia
A huge fireball fell from the skies over Russia's Chelyabinsk region early Friday, resulting in a powerful blast that reportedly injured about 400 people.
Reports from Russia suggested that the fireball was caused by a meteorite.
"Preliminary indications are that it was a meteorite rain," the RIA-Novosti news agency quoted an emergency official as saying. "We have information about a blast at 10,000-meter (32,800-foot) altitude. It is being verified."
The Associated Press quoted a spokesman for the Russian Interior Ministry, Vadim Kolesnikov, as saying that the fireball caused in an explosion and sonic boom that broke windows.
City authorities in Chelyabinsk, 930 miles east of Moscow, said about 400 people sought medical help, mainly for light injuries caused by flying glass, Reuters reported.
The sounds of car alarms and breaking windows could be heard in the area, the witness told Reuters, and mobile phones were working intermittently.
"I was standing at a bus stop, seeing off my girlfriend," said Andrei, a local resident who did not give his second name. "Then there was a flash and I saw a trail of smoke across the sky and felt a shockwave that smashed windows."
The meteorite raced across the horizon, leaving a long white trail in its wake which could be seen as far as 125 miles away in Yekaterinburg.
"I was driving to work, it was quite dark, but it suddenly became as bright as if it was day," Viktor Prokofiev, 36, a resident of Yekaterinburg, told Reuters. "I felt like I was blinded by headlights."
No fatalities were reported but President Vladimir Putin, who was due to host Finance Ministry officials from the Group of 20 nations in Moscow, and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev were informed.
Multiple videos posted to YouTube showed the object flaring brightly as it sped across the sky. Twitter users posted photos showing broken windows. One video showed an office building in Chelyabinsk being hurriedly evacuated.
Russian news media quoted local residents as speculating that the blast could have been caused by a missile explosion or a military plane crash, but an unnamed emergency official told Reuters that was not the case.
Reports from Russia suggested that the fireball was caused by a meteorite.
"Preliminary indications are that it was a meteorite rain," the RIA-Novosti news agency quoted an emergency official as saying. "We have information about a blast at 10,000-meter (32,800-foot) altitude. It is being verified."
The Associated Press quoted a spokesman for the Russian Interior Ministry, Vadim Kolesnikov, as saying that the fireball caused in an explosion and sonic boom that broke windows.
City authorities in Chelyabinsk, 930 miles east of Moscow, said about 400 people sought medical help, mainly for light injuries caused by flying glass, Reuters reported.
The sounds of car alarms and breaking windows could be heard in the area, the witness told Reuters, and mobile phones were working intermittently.
"I was standing at a bus stop, seeing off my girlfriend," said Andrei, a local resident who did not give his second name. "Then there was a flash and I saw a trail of smoke across the sky and felt a shockwave that smashed windows."
The meteorite raced across the horizon, leaving a long white trail in its wake which could be seen as far as 125 miles away in Yekaterinburg."I was driving to work, it was quite dark, but it suddenly became as bright as if it was day," Viktor Prokofiev, 36, a resident of Yekaterinburg, told Reuters. "I felt like I was blinded by headlights."
No fatalities were reported but President Vladimir Putin, who was due to host Finance Ministry officials from the Group of 20 nations in Moscow, and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev were informed.
Multiple videos posted to YouTube showed the object flaring brightly as it sped across the sky. Twitter users posted photos showing broken windows. One video showed an office building in Chelyabinsk being hurriedly evacuated.
Russian news media quoted local residents as speculating that the blast could have been caused by a missile explosion or a military plane crash, but an unnamed emergency official told Reuters that was not the case.
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