• published: 15 Feb 2013
• views: 312
• author: ArturTulku AppleWorldNews

Moscow (CNN) -- A meteor shower sparked an explosion that left 247 people injured Friday in southern Russia, the local Emergency Ministry said. Nine people have been hospitalized, a spokesman for the Emergency Ministry of Chelyabinsk told CNN. Most of the injuries were caused by broken glass. State-run RIA Novosti news agency said at least three people were critically injured by broken glass. A bright white flash appeared in the sky for a few seconds, followed by a heavy "bang" that sounded like a blast, according to official news agency Itar-Tass. The explosion was centered 50 miles (80 km) from Satka city, in the Chelyabinsk region, Itar-Tass reported. Russian emergency officials said the meteor was destroyed after it partially burned in the lower atmosphere over the Ural district. Glass broke in high-rise buildings, causing the injuries, the federal Emergency Ministry said in a statement. For sky-watchers, the reports bring to mind the famous Tunguska event of 1908 in remote Siberia. That asteroid entered the atmosphere and exploded, leveling trees over an area of 820 square miles -- about two-thirds the size of Rhode Island. In total, some 80 million trees were felled, radiating out from the center of the blast, but no crater was left. Friday's Chelyabinsk meteor shower comes on the same day that a hefty asteroid is due to charge past the Earth at a pretty close range, in space terms. Known as 2012 DA14, the asteroid is thought to be 45 meters -- about half a football ...