Meteor shower over central Russia injures 400

Moscow - A meteorite shower over central Russia injured approximately 400 people on Friday, authorities said, with most of the wounds caused by shards of flying glass.

The burning rocks damaged buildings and shook the ground as they crashed into six towns in the Chelyabinsk region, located in an area of the Urals some 1,500 kilometres east of Moscow.

The Interior Ministry said ten children were among the injured, according to the Interfax news agency. All schools and kindergartens in Chelyabinsk have been closed for the day.

Authorities said the damage could have been far worse had the meteorite fragments not fallen in such a sparsely populated area.//DPA