Panic in Russia as collapsed meteor rains debris

A meteor shower rained down on central Russia on Friday, sowing panic as the hurtling space debris exploded in the air, blew out windows and left several people injured, officials and agencies reported.

“A meteorite disintegrated above the Urals (mountain range in central Russia), partially burning up in the lower atmosphere,” the local office of the national emergencies ministry said in a satement.

“Fragments of the meteorite reached Earth, falling in sparsely populated areas in the Chelyabinsk region,” it said.

“According to preliminary information, four people have been injured by flying glass,” it said.

“At 11:00 am local time (0500 GMT) we received numerous calls of panic, power cuts and contusions,” Interfax cited the local government as saying.