An estimated 500 people were injured after a 10-ton meteorite broke apart and hit western Siberia shortly after entering the earth's atmosphere on Friday.

Chelyabinsk health chief Marina Moskvicheva was quoted as saying 43 were hospitalized in her city, with most of the injuries caused by broken glass, according to ABC 7. Eight times faster than a rifle bullet, the meteorite lit up the skies above the Ural Mountains. Fragments of the meteor struck the Chelyabink region, which is located about 950 miles east of Moscow.

The Russian Academy of Science said that the meteor entered the atmosphere of the earth of speeds of about 33,000 mph, which caused shock waves. The meteorite was said to have shattered roughly 18 to 32 miles above the ground, wounding 500 while scaring countless others.

People who were in the vicinity at the time were able to capture the complete incident on video. Some of the residents within the area initially thought that they were being attacked.

An estimated 20,000 troops were at the scene and three aircrafts evaluated the damage from the sky.

Officials said the meteorite caused glass to shatter from a zinc factory over a wide area of space. It's still not certain whether the collapse was the result of the meteorites or a shock wave from one of the explosions. Some of the fragments hit a reservoir outside of the town of Cherbakul, the regional governor's office said. However, it wasn't immediately certain if they hit anybody.

Military spokesperson Yarslav Roshupkin reportedly stated that a 20-foot-wide crater was located in the same area, which could quite possibly be the result of the fragments hitting the ground.

Meteors are known to cause large sonic booms when they enter the earth's atmosphere due to traveling much more rapidly than the speed of sound. Authorities said that it's way too early to identify the original size of the meteorite.

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