A meteorites shower caused by the disintegration of a meteor over the Urals region, accompanied by violent explosions, shattered buildings windows in several towns, it caused panic and injured about 500 people, the Russian agencies write quoting authorities and witnesses. The large meteorite was destroyed by a missile, according to Russia Today. The celestial body was intercepted at an altitude of 20 kilometers by the Russian military projectile.
Spectacular images with the meteorites shower in Russia
UPDATE 13.30 - Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the Ministry for Emergencies to speed up an investigation following the meteorites shower. The Russian leader said that an "astronomical assessment" was vital to prevent similar future incidents.
UPDATE 13.00 - " This morning we’ve had to deal with an object that entered the atmosphere, an object whose orbit brought it towards the Earth and it entered the atmosphere. The object must have been rotating around the Sun for a long time, but it happened that it entered the atmosphere today”, Adrian Sonka from the Astronomic Observer explained, quoted by Mediafax.
UPDATE 12.00 - " Chances are that a new meteorite may enter Terra’s atmosphere over the next hours.” The announcement was made by the Pulkovo Observatory in Russia.
People originally thought that an aircraft had exploded in flight. The meteorite would have been destroyed upon entering the thicker layers of the atmosphere, but a few fragments of it fell on earth, in regions less populated, according to an official press release.
“A meteorite disintegrated over the Urals region, partially burning in the inferior layers of the atmosphere. Meteorite fragments have reached the ground and fell in less populated areas of the Celiabinsk region”, the local branch of the Russian Ministry for Emergency Situations stated in a press release.
The explosion blow shattered the windows from “the upper floors of some buildings”. An official within the ministry, quoted by RIA Novosti, announced approximately 500 injured.
How the areas affected by the meteorites shower in Russia look like. View the photo gallery
In the city of Cheliabinsk the cell phone communication was interrupted and some buildings were evacuated. The Ministry of Interior officials reported that some people were injured in a school by the shards of glass Celiabinsk.
A wall collapsed in a plant in Cheliabinsk, according to an employee quoted by Interfax who announced that that three or four people were slightly wounded.
Emergency Situations Ministry stated it had mobilized about 20,000 persons, who were placed on alert, and three airplanes or helicopters to inspect the area.
The phenomenon was observed in Kazahstan too, according to some Russian press agencies.
If such an asteroid would hit the Earth, the effect would be equivalent to the explosion of a nuclear bomb. The celestial body passes near Earth today.
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