Summary
15 February 2013
More than 400 people have been injured in Russia by an explosion caused by what seems to have been a meteor.
Reporter:
Daniel Sandford
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Report
Eyewitnesses describe seeing a fireball curving through the clear sky, and an extremely intense light as it passed overhead.
It seems to have been a meteor, and left a white condensation trail behind it. A couple of minutes later there was a loud bang.
The shock wave from the blast blew out windows across the region round Chelyabinsk in the Ural mountains.
People who'd rushed to look out and see what was happening were injured by flying glass.
Everyone went outside to check their neighbours were OK, and the mobile phone network collapsed, briefly overwhelmed by the volume of calls.
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Vocabulary
- Eyewitnesses
people who have seen something then talked about it to the authorities or media
- curving
bending, not moving in a straight line
- intense
very bright and strong
- condensation trail
a line in the sky formed of water vapour which can be seen following an object
- shock wave
invisible force of pressure caused by an explosion
- blew out
broke, smashed
- collapsed
failed
- overwhelmed by
unable to deal with
- the volume of
the large number of
