Meteor Crashes in the Russian Urals: Hundreds of People Hurt!

Dear Commons Community,

All the media are reporting that a meteor streaked across the sky above Russia’s Ural Mountains on Friday morning, causing sharp explosions and injuring hundreds of people, most of them hurt by broken glass.  The Huffington Post reported that:

“There was panic. People had no idea what was happening. Everyone was going around to people’s houses to check if they were OK,” said Sergey Hametov, a resident of Chelyabinsk, about 1500 kilometers (930 miles) east of Moscow, the biggest city in the affected region.

“We saw a big burst of light then went outside to see what it was and we heard a really loud thundering sound,” he told The Associated Press by telephone.

Fragments of the meteor fell in a thinly populated area of the Chelyabinsk region, the Emergency Ministry said in a statement.

Interior Ministry spokesman Vadim Kolesnikov said more than 400 people had sought medical treatment after the blasts, and at least three had been hospitalized in serious condition. Many of the injuries were from glass broken by the explosions.

Kolsenikov also said about 600 square meters (6000 square feet) of a roof at a zinc factory had collapsed.”

Not often that a meteor crashes in a populated part of the world.

Tony

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