Meteor Shower Hits Russia: 400 Injured

[bluefete]

'It was like a scene from the Armageddon movie': More than 400 people injured, buildings smashed and Russian mobile network wiped out as meteorite shower causes widespread panic

By Will Stewart

PUBLISHED: 07:03 GMT, 15 February 2013 | UPDATED: 09:12 GMT, 15 February 2013

A terrifying meteorite shower hit Russia early this morning injuring more than 400 people, many of them hurt by broken glass.

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.

Brightly burning rocks could be seen for hundreds of kilometres as they crashed at around 9.20am local time (03.20 UK time).

Pictures show a streak of smoke followed by several bright blasts of flames and eyewitnesses spoke of several devastating explosions.


Damaged: A zinc factory in Chelyabinsk was seen with a partially collapsed roof and walls in the morning after meteor pieces rained on the town

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 hospitalised in a serious condition.

Many of the injuries were from glass broken by the explosions.


Unexpected: Eyewitnesses spoke of several devastating explosions rocking buildings and shattering glass


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

Mobile phones are only working intermittently and there were localised power cuts.

The emergencies ministry said that 20,000 rescue workers had been dispatched to help the injured and locate those needing help.


Spectacular sky: The Urals region was struck by falling meteorite fragments which fell in the city of Chelyabinsk

The defence ministry said it had sent soldiers to the sites of impact.

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

All schools and kindergartens were closed in Chelyabinsk region today.

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.

Four schoolchildren were known to have been injured from broken glass.

Today's showers is thought to be unrelated to Asteroid 2012 DA14, due to skim the orbit of Earth this afternoon.

One eyewitness Gulnara Dudka, in her 20s, gave a dramatic account of the meteorite, telling how she feared 'doomsday' had arrived, reported the Siberian Times.

'What was it? People said it was a plane that fell and exploded,' she said.

'I saw a bright blast from behind me. Everything was lit up, very bright light.

'It was like from Armageddon movie when the meteorite rain started, I really thought it was like doomsday.

'It was so scary especially the explosion. It was very strong. I am speechless. It was so strong. My camera couldn't reproduce how strong the bang was.'

First reports suggested that there had been a plane crash but officials confirmed it was one or more meteorites falling to Earth.

The space objects struck on the same day that an unrelated giant asteroid is expected to fly safely past earth.

The meteorite apparently broke up, one part falling close to a school and another near a factory where cables were damaged either from the falling object or the associated explosion.

Reports also suggested fragments fell on Satka, 200km (120 miles) from Chelyabinsk, the regional capital.

Other reports suggested a meteorite shower.

'I was sitting at home and typing something on my computer. Suddenly there was a huge bright flash,' said Konstantin Zharinov, an historian and journalist from Chelyabinsk.

'At first I thought something happened at my neighbours place but a minute later the sound of the explosion came.'

He said 'many lost their windows, glass is everywhere in the streets'.

The meteorite flew across the Russian sky from the direction of Kazakhstan, its trajectory going over southern Siberia, above the Tyumen, Kurgan and Sverdlovsk regions, said the head of the Urals regional branch of the Emergencies Ministry press service, Vadim Grebennikov.

'At the moment we are checking the territories and counting how many towns and settlements suffered from it.

'Preliminary information says the meteorite did not fall down but exploded in the air. '

Radiation levels were normal, said officials.

Residents in one 19 storey block reported feeling the shockwaves of the explosions.

The sounds of car alarms and breaking windows could be heard in the area, said a witness, and there were reports that the internet and mobile networks were temporarily down.

'Preliminary indications are that it was a meteorite rain,' said an emergency official.

'We have information about a blast at 10,000-meter (32,800-feet) altitude. It is being verified.'

The trace from a falling object could be seen in Yekaterinburg, some 200 kilometres (125 miles) southeast of Chelyabinsk, said a witness cited by Reuters.



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[intelMAX]

*Video Inside*

http://rt.com/news/meteorite-crash-urals-chelyabinsk-283/

[-Roach-]

http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/15/mete ... er-russia/

^Multiple Videos Inside...

Dafuq!... SCARY SH!T!!!!!

[shogun]

Wow...

[hydroep]

Amazing...

[rfari]

End times yes

[STORM1234]

time for we to dead boidan

[civic minded]

[Halfbreed07]

they have landed

[r3iXmann]

Imagine if this happened in Trinidad. The PM would be on site within a few hours. Endless traffic and silly reports from newsday/express about invasion or attack with nuclear missiles from Venezuela

[lostallos101]

they maybe come with the one that is passing near the earth but damn dats incredible

[Chimera]

this is God's wrath for the pope resigning

expect more attacks from the heavens soon.

[dougla_boy]

scary but very interesting to see!

[silver]

autobots roll out

[j.o.e]

Imagine if this happened in Trinidad. The PM would be on site within a few hours. Endless traffic and silly reports from newsday/express about invasion or attack with nuclear missiles from Venezuela

First ting ppl will say is God vex after Trinis wine down half-naked in d streets and God fixin dem. There would be epic traffic...and no one would go to work for days cus they wanted to stay home after Carnival anyway.

[Crackpot]

How about the fact that Russia was hit by a meteorite in 1908 that destroyed a vast region in Siberia.

Meteors are not part of Earth so it cannot be expected in certain regions, however Russia seems to be the zone of impact alot

What's also scary is that NASA missed this object or probably knew and said nothing

WTF is going on

[kaylex]

boy i watching some footage... The Mayans were probably off by a few months...
this is incredible...
I would have definitely sheit my pants and reach for the bible..

[<=xjemler=>]

Apparently an Asteroid is suppose to pass Earth tonight so that could have been a fragment from it that hit Russia.

The Asteroid is 50M in size and would pass 17,000 miles close to Earth.

[PapaC]

Something to look out for later today.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21442863

Asteroid 2012 DA14 set for record-breaking Earth pass
COMMENTS (294)
By Jason Palmer
Science and technology reporter, BBC News

Jodrell Bank's Tim O'Brien explains where and when the asteroid will be most visible to people in the UK
Continue reading the main story
Related Stories

Meteor injures hundreds in Russia
World 'must tackle space threat'
Tracked asteroid debris collected
An asteroid as large as an Olympic swimming pool will race past the Earth on Friday at a distance of just 27,700km (17,200mi) - the closest ever predicted for an object of that size.

It will pass closer even than the geosynchronous satellites that orbit the Earth, but there is no risk of impacts or collisions.

Its closest approach will be 19:25 GMT.

For regions in darkness around that time, it will be visible using good binoculars or a telescope.

The asteroid's arrival was preceded by damaging meteor event in Russia on Friday - but indications from the meteor's path suggest that the two events are entirely unrelated - just a "cosmic coincidence", as Alan Fitzsimmons of Queens University Belfast told BBC News.


The asteroid orbits the Sun in 368 days - a period similar to Earth's year - but it does not orbit in the same plane as the Earth.

As it passes - at 7.8km/s (17,450 mi/hr) - it will come from "under" the Earth and return back toward the Sun from "above".

It will pass over directly over the eastern Indian Ocean, making for the best viewing in Eastern Europe, Asia and Australia.

But keen viewers anywhere can find one of several live streams of the event on the internet, including a feed from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at Nasa, available from 19:00 GMT.

2012 DA14 was first spotted in February 2012 by astronomers at the La Sagra Sky Survey in Spain - once a fairly small-scale, amateur effort to discover and track asteroids that has in recent years become a significant contributor to our knowledge of these "near-Earth objects".

They caught sight of the asteroid after its last pass, at a far greater distance.


From their observations, they were able to calculate the asteroid's future and past paths and predict Friday's near-miss - which will be the closest the object comes for at least 30 years.

Prof Fitzsimmons said that it is a scientific opportunity not to be missed.

"When asteroids come this close, it's very important to try to learn about them - it's become so bright, so it's so easy to study," he told BBC News.

"We get an additional insight into these small objects, which are the most likely impactors on Earth."

The notion that it is these smaller, tens-to-hundreds of metres-sized objects that pose the greatest potential threat to Earth is explored in the BBC feature article Can we know about every asteroid? .

For skywatchers in the UK, the graphic below indicates roughly where in the northern sky to try to spot 2012 DA14.

[uncle sam]

end of days

[shake d livin wake d dead]

scary sheit indeed.

[intelMAX]

Will be taking these guys a little more serious

[[X]~Outlaw]

W
T
F
!

[Habit7]

This happen quite often actually. In happens a lot in Russia because it is the largest country in the world and most spread out longitudinally across the globe. Plus with it higher latitude it has a thinner atmosphere offering less resistance to break up like most meteors.

The chance of this happening Trinidad is very slim due to our size and our location close to the equator.

[.:PROZAC:..]

time to call Harry.

[MG Man]

could have been worse
Imagine another Tunguska O_O

[hustla_ambition101]

I willing to provide shelter for the Russian wimmenz

[pimptacular]

well atleast we know superman will speak russian

[fokhan_96]

What's also scary is that NASA missed this object or probably knew and said nothing

WTF is going on

This

[Centric]

How come no warning from NASA?