Russian government warning citizens to stay away from meteor, fragments
Russia’s authorities on Friday cautioned residents of the Urals to stay away from any unidentified objects after a meteor dramatically burned up above the region, with a precious meteorite apparently plunging into a local lake.
Screenshot from YouTube user Gregor Grimm
“More than 20,000 people are inspecting the territory and taking stock of the situation.”
Current reports claim over 900 were injured, well over 100 hospitalized and a couple in critical condition.
“Russia’s emergency ministry warns all residents of the Urals… not to approach unknown objects,” the ministry said on its website, listing several numbers for people to use if they found something unusual.
The meteor spectacularly fell early Friday, causing blasts which blew out windows in the city of Chelyabinsk and left almost a thousand people injured. Televised reports showed footage from the Chebarkul lake, about 60 kilometres from Chelyabinsk, where a circular hole was discovered in the ice, which regional police said was cut by a meteorite. Local fishermen saw the falling meteor, which disintegrated into seven pieces.
“One of them fell on the shore opposite of the (Chebarkul) town, whipping up a pillar of ice, water and steam,” the police said in a statement. “As a result, a giant circular ice hole eight meters (26 feet) in diameter was formed,” the report said. Police secured the area and specialists measured radiation, which was normal, it said.
Pictures on the police website showed people standing around looking at the ice hole. One also showed a tiny rock about one centimetre in diameter, laying on ice next to a ruler. Several such fragments, “hard, black pieces, which look like rock segments,” have been recovered, police said.
