New details about the meteorite over Chelyabinsk

As we wrote today, in the sky aboveChelyabinsk, Ural region has opened up almost a real apocalypse. A meteorite fell on the city and damaged several buildings, broke the glass of houses and because of this a lot of people were injured.

The Russia Today portal reports that the troops of the citydiscovered three points of incidence of this celestial body. Two of them were found near Lake Chebarkul, which is west of Chelyabinsk, and the third piece was found 80 km northwest, near the city of Zlatoust. One of the pieces of a meteorite that fell near Chebarkul left a crater with a diameter of six meters.

The military, who discovered the crater, reported that the background radiation in this zone was within normal limits.

The Russian Space Agency (Roscosmos) confirmed that the object that fell on Chelyabinsk is a meteorite:

“According to preliminary reports, an object of non-man-made origin is classified as a meteorite. He moved along a low trajectory at a speed of 30 km / s. "

According to the Russian Academy of Sciences, the weight of a space object before entering the Earth’s atmosphere was about 10 tons.

At 15:00 Moscow time, 725 people turned to the medical services of Chelyabinsk. 112 of them were hospitalized, and two are in serious condition. Among the victims there are 159 children. This was reported by the local Ministry of Emergencies.

Meteorites, inherently usually consisting ofvarious space debris, such as residues from asteroids and comets, are both small and large. When entering the Earth’s atmosphere, these cosmic bodies become so hot that they literally begin to fall apart and glow very brightly. So, such a glow was noticed not only in Chelyabinsk, but also in Tyumen and Sverdlovsk, as well as in the Republic of Bashkiria and Kazakhstan.

The Russian military joined rescue operations, and continue to search for the remains of a meteorite in the Chelyabinsk and Tyumen regions.

All installations of radiation, chemical andbiological safety at this moment are in the status of increased alert. Due to the fact that the explosion of the body occurred a few kilometers above the surface of the Earth, it is likely that fragments of stone scattered over a very large area. Therefore, the troops need to check all potential potential fall zones for radiation and other threats.

Authorities report at least one piece of thismeteorite fell directly on Chelyabinsk itself. According to preliminary reports, it indicates that it crashed into a wall near a local zinc plant. The Ministry of Emergency Situations reports that 20 thousand rescue personnel are currently working in the region, and three air vehicles have been lifted into the air to inspect the scale.

The ministry reports that a total of 297 buildings were damaged. Another 450 buildings were left without gas supply, because the corresponding structures also received damage.

The tail of a meteorite from the window of one of the residential buildings

Witnesses of the incident report that they heardexplosion. It seemed to people that an earthquake had begun, because during the explosion, the ground literally trembled underfoot. Others report seeing something falling burning.

The Ural center of the Ministry of Emergencies recorded a hugethe receipt of SMS messages and calls in which people talked about a possible meteor shower. However, the eyewitnesses themselves did not report any meteor shower.

As a result of this incident, the events wereclasses in educational institutions of Chelyabinsk are canceled. Glass was blown out in buildings during an explosion. Authorities also advised parents to pick up their children from kindergartens.

According to unconfirmed information, a meteorite onin fact, it was shot down by a missile of an air defense system located in Urzhumka, near Chelyabinsk. The local newspaper Znak, citing an unnamed military source, reports that the meteorite was hit by a rocket at an altitude of 20 kilometers above the surface of the Earth.

The Russian news agency REGNUM alsorefers to a military source, which claims that the giant tail from the meteorite, which is a concentration of various vapors, may indicate that it was shot down by air defense.

The police of the Chelyabinsk region are on high alert and are doing their best to keep citizens calm.

People from office buildings located in the centerChelyabinsk, it was decided to evacuate. Reported several injured high school students, presumably due to glass shattered from the shock wave. An emergency message published by the authorities on the official website of Chelyabinsk strongly advises to pick up children from schools and, if possible, is at home with them.

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Video of an eyewitness of the explosion captured on a mobile phone

Residents of the affected houses where glass was broken, now have to somehow deal with the cold. The temperature outside the window at that time was at around -6 ° C.

Many houses and educational institutions have broken glass

Learning about the incident, the governor of ChelyabinskMikhail Yurevich immediately went to the scene of the disaster. Yurevich said that providing residents of the city with heat is a priority for all authorities in the region.

“Do not panic. This is a common situation that we can deal with in a couple of days, "

- the governor addresses residents of the city.

As previously reported, the background radiation in Chelyabinsk is within normal limits. The Ministry of Emergencies itself confirms this.

Local Zinc factory hit hard

The local Ministry of Emergency Situations associates this incident withmeteor shower, although locals expressed their suggestion that all this could have been caused by the crash of a military fighter or an exploding rocket.

“According to preliminary information, the flashes that were seen over the Ural region were caused by meteor shower,”

- reports ITAR-TASS news agency, referring to the Ministry of Emergencies.

The ministry also reports that local power plants and the civilian airport were not affected. And all departures will be carried out at a predetermined time.

Deputy Dmitry Rogozin said through his Twitter that he would contact Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev about the incident in the Urals.

“On Monday, I’m going to provide Medvedev with a clear picture of what is happening in the Urals, and discuss issues of possible solutions to prevent potential space threats to the Earth,”

- Rogozin writes.

Residents of the city of Emanzhilins, which is approximately 50kilometers from Chelyabinsk, they say that they saw some kind of object flying through the sky, which suddenly caught fire, then fell apart and fell to the ground. Some residents of Chelyabinsk themselves say that the air smells like something that looks like burnt powder.

A flurry of calls and text messages just hit the local Ministry of Emergencies. Many report damaged houses and broken windows.

“This explosion, I was nearly deaf, the windows were knocked out ... the phone is not working,”

- writes on Twitter Evgenia Gabun.

“The glass in the room flew out. I'm all shaking. Everyone says the plane crashed, "

- written on Twitter by Katie Grechnikova.

“The windows in my house did not break, but I felt that the house was shaking, then I thought it was a UFO. But at first it seemed to me that this is an earthquake, "

- writes Olga Burkeeva.

It is reported that the Mayak nuclear missile complex, located 72 kilometers from Chelyabinsk, was not injured.

Many people associate the incident withthe asteroid 2012 DA14, with a diameter of 45 to 95 meters, which will fly past Earth today. It will be possible to follow what is happening live from 23:25 Moscow time. The live broadcast will be on the official NASA channel on the Ustream service.

Source: RT.com