A viral video has led officials to suggest that Russia might have recently been struck by a meteor but some have quickly called the theory into question.
The video, posted on Sunday, was reportedly filmed in a remote area near the Bureya River in Khabarovsk Region of the Russia’s Far East. It shows large chunks of land mass completely blocking the frozen river.
The land itself is riddled with fallen trees and covered in snow. It appears to have come from a hill nearby which bears signs of destruction.
“Mountains in the middle of the sea!” an astonished man can be heard saying. He goes on to suggest parts of the hill collapsed onto the river and formed a “dam” after being hit by a meteor.
The man also notes that neighboring hills have some trees missing, suggesting that they, too, were mowed down by an incoming space stone.
No trees at all! Just complete desert.
Local officials told media that the “strange movement of the land mass” in the wilderness was initially spotted by a hunter. “We have an assumption that a meteor strike could have been the cause but can’t draw any conclusions yet,” they said.
Head of the local government, Aleksey Maslov, said two teams were dispatched to the scene to inspect the area and check radiation levels. He said that “the incident happened several days ago,” but was discovered just recently because the site is located far from towns and villages.
“Apparently, the meteor was huge if it could bury the river’s estuary 40 meters deep,” the official told reporters and expressed hope that the experts will determine all the facts.
Maslov also said that the workers at the Bureya hydroelectric dam noticed that the water level in the river had decreased but at the time couldn’t figure out why.
The region’s emergency services were informed of the discovery but denied receiving reports of a meteor strike.
Meteors are rare but not entirely uncommon in Russia. In 2013, one famously flew above the city of Chelyabinsk in southern Urals, crashing at the outskirts, and no one saw it coming until the last moment.
Also on rt.com Meteorite hits Russian Urals: Fireball explosion wreaks havoc, up to 1,200 injured (VIDEO)The officials warned that the first findings from the scene likely won’t arrive until Tuesday. This left people online to speculate what happened. And the public in large doesn’t seem to buy the meteor theory. Many found it hard to believe that a space stone impact could have been missed for so long.
“It had to be huge but no one noticed anything,” one person wrote. “If such a massive meteor would hit the ground, we would hear it. I call bulls***!” another added.
Some pointed out that the video from the scene didn’t capture the remnants of the alleged stone.
“It rather looks like large a landslide,” a commentator suggested, while others said that the trees nearby were simple cut down by loggers.
People even joked that the officials had dreamed up the meteor idea because they were “bored” and “hype is good when you have nothing else to search for.” Others joined the fun, floating X-Files-style ‘explanations.’
“A spaceship crashed, the aliens were shot down,” one wrote.
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