Photos: Meteorite fragments found in Russia's Urals region

Fragments from a meteorite have been found in the Urals region of Russia where it struck on Friday, injuring 1,200 people, claim Russian scientists.

The fragments were detected around a frozen lake near Chebarkul, a town in the Chelyabinsk region, where the meteorite is believed to have landed, according to a BBC report.

The material contained about 10 per cent iron, Viktor Grohovsky, of the Urals Federal University, told the Russian media.

The 55 foot wide rock with a mass of 10,000 tonnes lit up the sky above the Urals region, causing shockwaves and damaging thousands of homes in an event unprecedented in modern times.

The dazzling fireball burned brighter than the Sun as it unleashed nearly 500 kilotons of energy, around 30 times the size of the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945.

Russian police work near an ice hole, said by the Interior Ministry department for Chelyabinsk region to be the point of impact of a meteorite seen earlier in the Urals region, at lake Chebarkul some 80 kilometers  west of Chelyabinsk. The interior ministry said the ice hole is the point of impact from the meteorite, which was spotted streaking across the sky earlier in the Urals region.

A Russian policeman works near an ice hole, said by the interior ministry department for Chelyabinsk region to be the point of impact of the meteorite.

"We have just completed the study, we confirm that the particulate matters, found by our expedition in the area of Lake Chebarkul indeed have meteorite nature," Grohovsky was quoted by Russia's Ria Novosti news agency as saying.

The main building of South Ural State University is reflected on a window glass, which was broken by a shockwave from a meteorite, in the Urals city of Chelyabinsk.