Meteor Shower Strikes Russia: 200+ Residents Injured and Buildings Damaged

A meteor in central Russia has caused some injuries and shattered windows, reports say.

Brightly burning rocks could be seen for hundreds of kilometres as they crashed into the Ural region.

Chelyabinsk residents reported shaking ground, windows being shattered and car alarms being set off during the shower.

The traces from falling objects could be seen in Yekaterinburg, about 200km (125 miles) north of Chelyabinsk, a witness told the Reuters news agency.

Credit Reuters

A meteor crashing in Russia's Ural mountains has injured at least 500 people, as the shockwave blew out windows and rocked buildings.

Most of those hurt suffered minor cuts and bruises but some received head injuries, Russian officials report.

A fireball was seen streaking through the clear morning sky above the city of Yekaterinburg, followed by loud bangs.

A large meteor fragment landed in a lake near Chebarkul, a town in the neighbouring Chelyabinsk region.

Much of the impact was felt in the city of Chelyabinsk, some 200km (125 miles) south of Yekaterinburg.

It suddenly became as bright as if it was day”

Viktor Prokofiev, a Yekaterinburg resident said;

"It was quite extraordinary. We saw a very bright light and then there was a kind of a track, white and yellow in the sky."

"The explosion was so strong that some windows in our building and in the buildings that are across the road and in the city in general, the windows broke."

Officials say a large meteor partially burned up in the lower atmosphere, resulting in fragments falling earthwards.

Thousands of rescue workers have been dispatched to the area to provide help to the injured, the emergencies ministry said.

A total of 102 people called for medical assistance following the incident, according to interior ministry spokesman Vadim Kolesnikov, mostly for treatment of injuries from glass broken by the explosions.

Mr Kolsenikov also said about 6,000 square feet of a roof at a zinc factory collapsed.

Reports 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.