A meteor streaked across the sky over Russia's Ural Mountains on Friday morning, causing sharp explosions and reportedly injuring more than 400 people.
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.
Photo courtesy: www.space.com
Car alarms went off, windows shattered and mobile phones worked only intermittently.
Photo courtesy: www.space.com
Residents on their way to work in Chelyabinsk heard what sounded like an explosion, saw a bright light and then felt a shockwave.
Photo courtesy: www.space.com
Windows were shattered on Chelyabinsk's central Lenin Street and some of the frames of shop fronts buckled.
Photo courtesy: www.space.com
The meteorite raced across the horizon, leaving a long white trail in its wake which could be seen as far as 200 km (125 miles) away in Yekaterinburg.
Photo courtesy: AP
A meteor streaked across the sky over Russia's Ural Mountains on Friday morning, causing sharp explosions and reportedly injuring more than 400 people.
Photo courtesy: Reuters
Kolsenikov also said about 600 square meters (6,000 square feet) of a roof at a zinc factory had collapsed.
Photo courtesy: Reuters
Fragments of the meteor fell in a thinly populated area of the Chelyabinsk region, the Emergency Ministry said in a statement.
Photo courtesy: AFP
Amateur video broadcast on Russian television showed an object speeding across the sky about 9:20 a.m. local time (0320 GMT), leaving a thick white contrail and an intense flash.
Photo courtesy: Reuters
Such incidents are rare. A meteorite is thought to have devastated an area of more than 2,000 sq km (1,250 miles) in Siberia in 1908, smashing windows as far as 200 km (125 miles) from the point of impact.
Photo courtesy: www.space.com
