“These are excerpts from RT live updates.  The meteorite blast has been compared to a nuclear explosion.”

17:50 GMT: The authorities of the Chelyabinsk region assessed the damage from the meteorite at 1 billion rubles, said Governor Mikhail Yurevich .

17:49 GMT: The Emergency Ministry said that at least 300 homes will have to be glazed. ‘As a result of an emergency situation in a number of towns and cities of Chelyabinsk region there are isolated cases of damage to the upper floors windows in 297 buildings, including 6 hospitals and 16 schools and pre-schools’ the ministry’s spokesman said. In addition, the work of three gas distribution stations was interrupted disrupting the gas supply to over 2000 people. Presently the gas supply has been restored in full, according to the ministry.

17:34 GMT: 1200 people were injured in Chelyabinsk region as a result of the meteorite fall, Russian Interior Ministry spokesman said.

16:35 GMT: The Emergency Ministry has since denied sending out SMS warnings about the meteor shower in the Chelyabinsk region. The ministry added that informing residents started after the incident and the spokesperson who spread the false information on the incident was fired.

16:19 GMT: The fireball that hit Russia’s Urals is the largest rock to strike the planet since 1908, Nature Magazine says. The blast was even more powerful than North Korea’s recent nuclear test, added the UK journal. Unlike the Russian Academy of Science, it estimated that the mass of the fireball was around 40 tons before it entered the atmosphere. Russian scientists put the mass at 10 tons.

via Russian meteorite crash: LIVE UPDATES — RT.

Categories: news