More than 500 people injured and buildings smashed as meteorite shower hits Russian town, causes panic and knocks out mobile network
A terrifying meteorite shower
left more than 500 people injured, buildings devastated and the mobile
network wiped out when it hit Russia this morning.
Brightly burning rocks could be seen for hundreds of kilometres as they crashed at around 9.20am local time and one bystander described it 'like a scene from the Armageddon movie.'
The meteor is believed to have landed in a lake near Chebarkul, a town in the neighbouring Chelyabinsk region.
The city of Chelyabinsk, 900 miles east of Moscow and close to the Kazakhstan border, took the brunt of the impact.
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Speeding: A terrifying meteorite shower left
more than 500 people injured, buildings devastated and the mobile
network wiped out when it hit Russia this morning
Terrifying: Brightly burning rocks could be seen
for hundreds of kilometres as they crashed at around 9.20am local time
and one bystander described it 'like a scene from the Armageddon movie'
Spectacular sky: The Urals region was struck by
falling meteorite fragments which fell in the city of Chelyabinsk, 900
miles east of Moscow and close to the Kazakhstan border
Over 500 people have sought medical treatment after the blasts, including 80 children and 112 are in hospital.
Many injured had bloodied faces and one child's back was seen covered in blood.
However, there were no reports of fatalities.
It was not immediately clear if any people were struck by fragments.
Tim O'Brien, associate director of
the University of Manchester's Jodrell Bank Observatory, said the
injuries were caused when the meteor created a sonic boom.
'This reasonably large chunk of rock
was moving faster than the speed of sound, maybe 20,000 miles per hour.
It made a sonic boom in the atmosphere, and that hit buildings and
shattered windows. That is what seems to have caused the injuries,' he
said.
The strike came on the same day as Asteroid 2012 DA14, which is due to skim the orbit of the Earth tonight.
But
astronomers say that it is probably just a coincidence - Dr Robert
Massey of the Royal Astronomical Society told MailOnline: 'As I
understand it, the Russian meteorite(s) were travelling from east to
west whereas 2012 DA14 will be travelling from north to south.'
The Russian Academy of Sciences is estimating the meteor weighed about 10 tons.
The
academy said in a statement hours fall that the meteor entered the
Earth's atmosphere at a speed of at least 54,000 kph (33,000 mph) and
shattered about 30-50 kilometers (18-32 miles) above ground.
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