Photo: 1,200 injured, many houses damaged as meteorite hits Russia's Urals
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| Photo taken on Feb. 16, 2013 shows a factory building damaged by the shockwave of the meteorite fall in Russia's Ural city of Chelyabinsk. Some 1,200 people have been injured and many houses damaged as a meteorite struck Russia's Urals region on Friday. (Xinhua/Jiang Kehong) |
BEIJING, Feb. 16(Xinhuanet) -- Hours after the huge meteor explosion over Ural Mountains on Friday, residents of the Russian city of Chelyabinsk had already begun to list meteorite pieces for sale on Avito.Ru, Russia's leading website for classified ads.
As many residents of the city were still nursing injuries from the unexpected blast, others were already trying to make a profit, advertising meteorite pieces for sale on auction sites.
In one post on Avito.Ru, a user named Andrew advertised 18 pieces for 500 rubles each (the equivalent of 16.61 dollars), which he promised would be arriving by plane to Moscow on Saturday from Chelyabinsk.
Another Chelyabinsk resident left an announcement on the site, writing, "Buy a fragment of a meteorite Chelyabinsk, found today at the crash site, photo later. Questions by mail, the price is also negotiable. "
A third user who identified himself as Sergey, asked for 300,000 rubles (roughly 10,000 dollars) for a piece of the space rock. “A piece of the meteor for sale, it’s new,” Sergey wrote, with a photo attached of himself holding a piece of stone.
The huge blast reportedly injured around 1,200 people, including more than 200 children, the majority hurt by shards of shattered glass, according to Russia’s Interior Ministry.
The New York Times reported that most of the injuries came from the eastern city of Chelyabinsk, a major industrial center known for manufacturing military machinery and nuclear weapons, and formerly, a center of production for weapons-grade plutonium.
Russian officials said that there was no evidence of radiation leaks resulting from the meteor’s blast. (Source: agencies)
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