More than 500 people, including 84 children, have been injured in a meteorite shower that rained down on three regions of Russia, and neighbouring country Kazakhstan on Friday.
Officials said 112 people have been hospitalised, with 3 in a serious condition.
European Space Agency (ESA) said there was no link between the meteorite and the 2012 DA14 asteroid, which is due to pass close by the Earth Friday.
Most people were injured by shattering windowpanes and many of the injuries seemed to be concentrated in the hard-hit Chelyabinsk region.
An estimated 20,000 emergency response workers have been mobilised. Background radiation levels reportedly remain unchanged. This was confirmed both by emergencies officials, and by the national nuclear agency, concerned because the area has a fair number of nuclear facilities.
Reports about whether this was one large meteorite or many smaller ones initially varied, but the national space agency, Roscosmos, confirmed by early afternoon that the object had been a single meteorite, a report given earlier by emergency officials.
Elena Smirnykh Deputy Head of Russian Emergencies Ministry press office said, "Verified information indicates that this was one meteorite which burned up as it approached the Earth and disintegrated into smaller pieces,".
Roscosmos stated the meteorite had been moving at a speed of 30 km per second.
Officials are trying to determine where the fragments have landed.
The Chelyabinsk governor said one had fallen in a lake in his region, while others have been reported in the Tyumen, Kurgan and Sverdlovsk regions as well. Emergency officials in west Kazakhstan said they were searching for two unidentified objects that fell in the country's Aktobe region.
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, speaking at an economic forum going on in Siberia's Krasnoyarsk region, called the meteorite "a symbol of the forum".
"I hope that there will be no serious consequences, but it is a demonstration that it is not only the economy that is vulnerable, but our planet as well," he said.
Buildings across Russia's Chelyabinsk region were damaged by falling meteorite particles and the shock waves and sonic booms caused by them, Russian officials said.
Russia's nuclear agency, Rosatom, said its facilities across the affected regions were functioning normally. The defence ministry also said none of its properties were damaged.
(with inputs from IANS)
|
|
Comments:
