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Meteorite reportedly crashes in West Siberia

"It was an incredibly beautiful and formidable sight," a female contributor wrote in the VKontakte network

KRASNOYARSK, December 6. /TASS/. A celestial body, presumably a meteorite, fell to Earth in the territory of Khakassia, the official website of the city of Sayanogorsk said on Tuesday.

"According to the Emergencies Ministry office in Sayanogorsk, a celestial body, presumably a meteorite, fell to Earth in the Beisk district. The Sayano-Shushenksya Hydro, the Maina Hydro, Rusal aluminum smelters and the city’s infrastructures operate normally," the report says.

'A meteorite in Khakassia'

Residents of Khakassia and the southern Krasnoyarsk Territory have been writing posts in the social networks citing "glow in the sky".

"It was an incredibly beautiful and formidable sight," a female contributor wrote in the VKontakte network.

The unusual bright glow in the sky over Khakassia may have been caused by the explosion of meteorite far less in size than the one that crashed into Lake Chebarkul, near Chelyabinsk, in February 2013, a member of the meteorites committee under the Russian Academy of Sciences, Viktor Grokhovsky, has told TASS.

"It is true that something like a large meteorite was seen to have exploded in the sky over Khakassia. The Chelyabinsk meteorite was several times larger. The fragments of the one that was seen today can still be found. It is essential to draw an accurate trajectory to see where the debris may have hit the surface. This will take about 24 hours," said Professor Grokhovsky, of the Urals Federal University.