Fire in the Sky
A meteor crashing in the Urals of central Russia has reportedly injured at least 400 people, as the shockwave blew out windows and rocked buildings.
Most of those hurt suffered minor cuts and bruises but some received head injuries, Russian media report.
A fireball was seen streaking through the sky above the city of Yekaterinburg, followed by loud bangs.
The meteor is believed to have landed in a lake near Chebarkul, a town in the neighbouring Chelyabinsk region.
Much of the impact was felt in the city of Chelyabinsk, some 200km (125 miles) south of Yekaterinburg.
"We saw a big burst of light, then went outside to see what it was and we heard a really loud thundering sound," Chelyabinsk resident Sergey Hametov told AP news agency by phone.
Officials say a large meteor partially burned up in the lower atmosphere, resulting in fragments falling earthwards.
Thousands of rescue workers have been dispatched to the area to provide help to the injured, the emergencies ministry said.
The Chelyabinsk region, about 1,500km (930 miles) east of Moscow, is home to many factories, a nuclear power plant and the Mayak atomic waste storage and treatment centre.
'Blinding'
The meteor streaking through the sky over Yekaterinburg, 15 February Elena Gorshkova sent BBC News this image of the meteor above Yekaterinburg
A loud noise, resembling an explosion, resounded through Chelyabinsk at around 09:20 (05:20 GMT).
"There was panic," Mr Hametov said.
"People had no idea what was happening. Everyone was going around to people's houses to check if they were okay."
Andrei, another local resident who did not give his second name, told Reuters he had been standing at a bus stop, seeing off his girlfriend.
"Then there was a flash and I saw a trail of smoke across the sky and felt a shockwave that smashed windows," he said.
Shockwaves were felt in a 19-storey building in the city centre, another witness said.
A roof at a zinc factory in Chelyabinsk also collapsed; however, it appears nobody was hurt in that incident.
In Yekaterinburg, 36-year-old resident Viktor Prokofiev was driving to work when he witnessed the event.
"It was quite dark, but it suddenly became as bright as if it was day," he was quoted by Reuters as saying.
Map
"I felt like I was blinded by headlights."
Debris also reportedly fell on the west Siberian region of Tyumen.
The governor of Chelyabinsk region, Mikhail Yurevich, reported that the meteor had landed in a lake 1km outside Chebarkul, which has a population of 46,000.
Chelyabinsk city authorities said an initial blast had been heard at an altitude of 10,000m (32,800ft), suggesting it occurred when the meteor entered Earth's atmosphere, Reuters reports.
Such meteor falls are rare but one is thought to have devastated an area of more than 2,000 sq km (1,250m) in Siberia in 1908.
That event smashed windows as far as 200 km (125 miles) from the point of impact.
Reader Comments
Watching RTnews and Milton Keynes, UK downplays it as a rare event and those who saw it were lucky.
If this happened over London would they be as lucky???
Surprise!* No Reference at all in article of TODAY'S scheduled Fly By of Asteroid 2012DA14 at UTC (19:24) (E.S.T. 14.24 P), nor to DIRECTION of above strike. (That's about 1.5 hours from when Iexpect to post this at 12.54 p.m. E.S.T.) See this good link: [Link].
That link states that the flyby will be from South to North. Of course, in the above article, there's NO REFERENCE to direction/trajectory iwhich makes me think that it too was likely South to North. (Otherwise, MSM would probably have noted it, to disassociate it from 2012DA14, eh what? I mean, how can you cover a meteorite like the above and NOT mention the direction it was traveling in?!?!?!) Well, they just managed to do exactly that.**
(Of course, such particular omissions of critical aspects of the "Who, What, Where, When, How and Why" of the story - i.e., journalism's basic job - constitute THE primary disinformation technique used by the MSM. Indeed, this omission seems quite akin to, for one of countless examples, the SOTT article linked today, [above right column as I began to type this], regarding how the MSM "CONSPIRED" - that IS the proper word - with the supposed "Law Enforcement"(Gestapo) "Officers of the Law" - to TRY to hide Chris Dorner's then-upcoming execution. There, the MSM was a principal before the fact of that murder, while the "law enforcement" personnel involved were, quite simply, his "Extrajudicial Executioners"*** [and from the audio were more than happy - indeed, enthusiastic - to be so]
For a good and very recent analysis of such tricks, (yet before Dorner, or this, et al,) see the excellent Thursday 7 February 2013 column by Glenn Greenwald: "US MEDIA YET AGAIN CONCEALS NEWSWORTHY GOVERNMENT SECRETS THE COLLECTIVE SELF-CENSORSHIP OVER A US DRONE BASE IN SAUDI ARABIA IS BUT THE LATEST ACT OF GOVERNMENT-SUBSERVIENT 'JOURNALISM' "
at [Link]
Folks, I'm certain that "our" current government is WISHING that the above had happened here so that they could then take advantage of their NDAA et al, to declare Martial Law, or something similar, such as secret martial law, - which state of affairs may have already existed for some time, for all we know. (No links, but see Hedges' NDAA case, et al.) ("Our" government/PTB likely have some false flag ready to go, in the event they are disappointed and there's no strike in the Americas. Sad and cynical? Absolutely. Likely true? Even more so.)
SOTT, you folks have been ON TOP OF THIS STORY FOR YEARS! That's the job the MSM claims to do - and gets paid to lie about. GOOD JOB!!!
Readers: Tell your friends that if they want truth, NOT disinformation, to read the real news here, at SOTT.net!) I/we will donate more, shortly. You should too. ****
R.C.
P.s., If you can, GO SHOPPING FOR YOUR BASIC FOODSTUFFS NOW! GET CASH, TOO.
* Sarcasm.
** I will try to research and report if I see a more complete article re direction of above strike.
*** A/k/a, IMHO "murderers," at least under the laws of America, which was once proudly proclaimed to be a nation of "laws," not men; contra AmeriKa.
**** (I have no financial interest here; I just love the search for truth.)
RC
Best link I've found is the below, which seems to indicate it was truly heading from E to west, but I did a search for the meteor's direction in an article with no reference to 2012 DA14, but you get NOTHING. How hard is it to tell? I know I"m not the only one who is sick of all the supposed "coincidences" we're nonstop pitched by the media. (WTC-7's sympathetic collapse, Police supposedly call "tear gas canisters" "burners, etc., etc. Nothing new, there.) I'm going to repost all this comment at Niall's main article which I imagine WILL deal the the basic WWWWHW so missing from the above BBC article.
[Link]
R.C.
cluster approaching and "passing us by without damage." Goodness....poor people in Russia.