Nearly 1,000 injured as meteor streaks through Russian skies
EXPLOSIONS in the sky smashed windows, set off car alarms, disrupted phone signals and injured as many as 1000 people
Residents of Cheliabinskit, a city in the southern part of the Russian Urals were witnessing the fall of a meteorite that for a few minutes illuminated the sky, caused panic among people and memory risolli in many scenes of the movie Armageddon.
Heavenly body, by getting in touch with the atmosphere was divided into dozens of pieces and donated spectacle except for local residents, caused hundreds of injuries and material damage. According to witnesses, the blast was so powerful it was felt shaking in a 19-storey building. Interfax reports for more than 1 200 people injured by pieces of broken glass.
Residents of Cheliabinskut speak broken window glass, car alarms enabled and swinging light housing. Russian authorities announced that the terraces of 600 meter / meters of a factory collapsed. Meteorite fell about 09:20 pm local time. In addition to the injured, two of them in serious condition in hospital, strikes also destroyed telecommunication network.
Fallen meteorite traces can be seen in Yekaterinburg, a small town about 200 kilometers south-east of Cheliabinskit.
Initially gained notoriety for the “meteor shower”, but Russian authorities explained that it was only one that later split. “A meteor exploded over the skies of Cheliabinskut region,” said Emergencies Ministry spokesman Interfax news agency while a local resident told Reuters he had heard a strong explosion in the early hours of Friday morning.
While the Russians and not only they, have begun work to determine if the meteor that hit Russia concerns over asteroid 2012 DA14 expected to travel at a distance close enough to the Earth during the day.