Scientists and emergency services are hunting for the cause of an incredible blast that lit up the sky over Russia’s Urals last week.
Dashcam footage has emerged on YouTube of what is being dubbed “Chelyabinsk #2″ in reference to the meteor that exploded over the southern Ural region in February last year.
The explosion on November 14 in the town of Rezh in Sverdlovsk region was intense, to say the least:
UFO? Meteor? Blast? Massive light flash over Russian Urals stuns locals, scientists (DASHCAM) http://t.co/0wEwqbWCnxpic.twitter.com/QWq5bUFUoY
— RT (@RT_com) November 18, 2014
Russian military sources denied there were any ordnance disposal or testing procedures in the region at the time.
“No exercise and training were underway on that day, and no military units are based in the region, so we have nothing to do with it,” a military press service told E1.ru.
Viktor Grokhovsky, of the meteorites committee of the Russian Academy of Sciences, told 66.ru:
Looks like a falling bolide, which invaded us. Because of the low cloud cover it ceased to exist above the clouds and lit up the whole sky.
But another expert told Ekburg.tv that bolide flashes are usually much whiter than the explosion caught on film and suggested it was more likely to be a rocket launch.
The official word is that there have been no launches from the nearby Plesetsk cosmodrome since November 24. However, neither did Russia declare the launch several weeks ago that resulted in this mystery object orbiting Earth and stoking fears Russia may have developed a satellite killer.