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Meteor shower injures over 400 in Russia

Russia has been hit by a meteor shower, causing sharp explosions and reportedly injuring more than 400 people, according to reports.

A meteor streaked across the sky over Russia's Ural Mountains on Friday morning,

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 400 people had called for medical assistance following the incident, mostly for treatment of injuries from glass broken by the explosions. At least three had been hospitalized in serious condition.


Kolsenikov also said about 600 square meters (6,000 square feet) of a roof at a zinc factory had collapsed.

Reports conflicted on what exactly happened in the clear skies. A spokeswoman for the Emergency Ministry, Irina Rossius, told The Associated Press that 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.

According to an unconfirmed report in Russia Today, the meteor was intercepted by Russian air defense.

Amateur video broadcast on Russian television showed an object speeding across the sky about 9:20 a.m. local time (0320 GMT), leaving a thick white contrail and an intense flash.

Contributing: USA TODAY's Kim Hjelmgaard; The Associated Press

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