METEORITE EXPLOSION. A meteorite streaks across the sky in Russia. Screen shot from Youtube.

MOSCOW, Russia - Divers scoured the bottom of a Russian lake on Saturday, February 16, for fragments of a meteorite that plunged to Earth in a blinding fireball whose shockwave injured 1,200 people and damaged thousands of homes.

The 10-tonnes meteor streaked across the Urals region on Friday, February 15, just as the world braced for a close encounter with a large asteroid that left some Russian officials calling for the creation of a global system of space object defence.

The unpredicted meteor strike ground traffic to a halt in the industrial city of Chelyabinsk as residents poured out on the streets to watch the light show before hovering for safety when a sonic boom rang out directly overhead. Watch this video of the meteor and glass from windows breaking. - Rappler.com