MOSCOW Bright objects, apparently debris from a meteor, strea ed through the s y in western Siberia early Friday, accompanied

by a thunderous shoc wave that d amaged buildings across a vast territory. Russia s Interior Ministry said more tha n 1,000 people were injured, 200 of them children, mostly from shards of glass t hat shattered when the meteor entered the atmosphere. Multimedia Video The Lede Videos of Meteor Over Siberia World Twitter Logo. Connect With Us on Twitter Follow @nytimesworld for international brea ing news and headlines. Twitter List: Reporters and Editors Enlarge This Image Ye aterina Pustynni ova/Chelyabins .ru, via Associated Press A contrail from what is believed to be a meteorite is seen over Chelyabins . Readers Comments Share your thoughts. Post a Comment Read All Comments (86) Many of the injuries were reported in the city of Chelyabins , about 950 miles e ast of Moscow, in a region where there are many factories for defense, including nuclear weapons production. But there was no indication of any damage that resu lted in any radiation lea s, officials said. Russian experts believe the blast was caused by a 10-ton meteor nown as a bolid e, which created a powerful shoc wave when it reached the Earth s atmosphere, the Russian Academy of Sciences said in a statement. Scientists believe the bolide exploded and evaporated at a height of about 20 to 30 miles above the Earth s surf ace, but that small fragments meteorites may have reached the ground, the statem ent said. The governor of the Chelyabins district reported that material from the s y had fallen into a la e on the outs irts of a city about 50 miles west of Chelyabins . Officials told Russian news agencies that they had sent police officers there . A small asteroid, nown as 2012 DA14, was expected to pass close to Earth later Friday, NASA reported on its Web site. Ale sandr Y. Dudorov, a physicist at Chel yabins State University, said it was possible that the meteorite may have been flying alongside the asteroid. What we witnessed today may have been the precursor of that asteroid, said Mr. Dud orov in a telephone interview. Others, however, disputed that view, saying there was almost certainly no connec tion. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, part of NASA, said in a statement posted on its Web site that preliminary information indicates that the fireball in Chelyab ins , Russia, is not related to asteroid 2012 DA14, which is flying by Earth tod ay. Prof. Alan Fitzsimmons, an astronomer at the Astrophysics Research Centre at Que en s University Belfast, told the BBC that 2012 Da14 was approaching Earth from th e south, while the meteor struc the Earth s atmosphere in the northern hemisphere

, indicating the objects were traveling in different directions. y a cosmic coincidence, although a spectacular one, he said.

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Fiery meteors are not unusual, but they typically evaporate far above the surfac e of the Earth, the Russian Academy of Sciences said in its statement. This mete or was unusual because it was so hard, and may have been made of iron, the state ment said. Nothing similar has been recorded on Russian territory since 2002. Video clips from Chelyabins showed an early morning s y illuminated by a brilli ant flash, followed by the sound of brea ing glass and multiple car alarms. Mete ors typically cause sonic booms as they enter the Earth s atmosphere. On Friday, t he force was powerful enough to shatter dishes and televisions in people s homes. I saw a flash in the window, turned toward it and saw a burning cloud, which was surrounded by smo e and was going downward it reminded me of what you see after an explosion, said Maria Polya ova, 25, head of reception at the Par -City Hotel in Chelyabins . A video made outside a building in Chelyabins captured the asto nished voices of people who were uncertain what it was they had just seen. Maybe it was a roc et, said one man, who rushed outside onto the street with his c o-wor ers when the object hit, far out of sight. A man named Artyom, who spo e t o the Moscow FM radio station, said the explosion was enormous. I was sitting at wor and the windows lit up and it was as if the whole city was illuminated, and I loo ed out and saw a huge strea in the s y and it was li e t hat for two or three minutes and then I heard these noises, li e claps, he said. A nd then all the dogs started bar ing. He said the blast caused balconies to sha e and windows to shatter. He said he d id not believe it was a meteor. We are waiting for a second piece, that is what p eople are tal ing about now, the man said.