GORNO-ALTAISK, December 26 (Itar-Tass) —— Ten fragments, supposedly, of the Meridian satellite, which fell after the launch from Plesetsk on Friday, have been found in the Novosibirsk Region's Ordynskoye district, local chief specialist for civil defence and emergencies Anatoly Ryasnyansky told Itar-Tass on Monday.
Special groups are continuing the search, he said. Local residents, including forest rangers and professional hunters, also participate in the work.
The wreckage was found in the Ordynskoye district, 100 km away from Novosibirsk.
One ball-form fragment broke the roof of a house in the settlement of Vagaitsevo on Friday. Nobody was hurt. House resident Andrei Krivoruchenko said he did not intend to file suits for compensation. According to him, it was an about-50-cm-diametre ball, and the hole was over two metres wide. The roof is already repaired with materials provided by the village administration.
Other fragments were found in the district's residential sites of Ordynskoye, Vagaitsevo, the village of Chernokovo and on the fields of the Ust-Lukovsky farm, Ryasnyansky said.
One fragment fell onto the Obskoye reservoir, but did not break through the ice. Among the found fragments are metal balls.
All the found wreckage is examined to find out whether it is toxic, and as is established, it is not toxically dangerous, specialists assure.
The lightest fragment weighs about 500 grammes. The heaviest weighing several kilogrammes fell onto a small shed with coal belonging to a villager.
The fragments were taken to a local police station.
The Soyuz-2.1b rocket was launched from Plesetsk on December 23 at 16:08 Moscow time. It carried the Meridian military-and-civil-purpose satellite. The Meridian failed to reach the designated orbit and crashed. According to the preliminary information, it was caused by engine failure of the third stage of the rocket.