A meteorite shot across the sky in central Russia early on Friday and sent fireballs crashing to Earth, smashing windows, setting off car alarms and injuring 150 people.
Residents heard what sounded like an explosion, saw a bright light and then felt a shockwave as they went to work in Chelyabinsk, according to a Reuters correspondent in the industrial city 1,500 kilometres east of Moscow.
The meteorite then raced across the horizon, leaving a long trail of white smoke in its wake which could be seen as far as 200 kilometres away in Yekaterinburg. Car alarms went off, windows shattered and mobile phones worked only intermittently.
“I was driving to work, it was quite dark, but it suddenly became as bright as if it was day,” said Viktor Prokofiev, a 36-year-old resident of Yekaterinburg in the Ural Mountains.
“I felt like I was blinded by headlights,” he said.
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 quickly informed.
The Emergencies Ministry said 150 people had been hurt, mainly by flying glass.
A local ministry official said the meteor shower may have been connected with an asteroid the size of an Olympic swimming pool that was due to pass Earth at a distance of 27,520 kilometres but this could not be confirmed.
Windows were shattered on Chelyabinsk’s central Lenin Street and some of the frames of shop fronts buckled.
A loud noise, resembling an explosion, rang out at around 9:20 a.m. (0520 GMT). The shockwave could be felt in apartment buildings in the industrial city’s centre.
“I was standing at a bus stop, seeing off my girlfriend,” said Andrei, a local resident who did not give his second name. “Then there was a flash, and I saw a trail of smoke across the sky and felt a shockwave that smashed windows,” he added.
A wall was damaged at the nearby Chelyabinsk Zinc Plant but there was no environmental threat, a plant spokeswoman said.
Such incidents are rare in Russia. A meteorite is thought to have devastated an area of more than 2,000 square kilometres in Siberia in 1908, smashing windows as far as 200 kilometres from the point of impact.
The Emergencies Ministry described Friday’s events as a “meteor shower in the form of fireballs” and said background radiation levels were normal. It urged residents not to panic.
Chelyabinsk city authorities urged people to stay indoors unless they needed to pick up their children from schools and kindergartens. They said a blast had been heard at an altitude of 10,000 metres, apparently signalling it occurred when the meteorite entered Earth’s atmosphere.
The US space agency Nasa has said an asteroid known as 2012 DA14, about 46 metres in diameter, would have an encounter with Earth closer than any asteroid since scientists began routinely monitoring them about 15 years ago.
Television, weather and communications satellites fly about 800 kilometres higher. The moon is 14 times farther away.
it was prophecised by prophet david awour in his repentance and holiness website, this is one of the many many fulfilled prophecies,
These are the last days no one knows what the next hour holds nor tomorrow either nextweek. No one knows of their fate nor when death.knocks and does anyone know their final destination???
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