Mikhail Yurevich, regional governor of Chelyabinsk, said up to 950 people suffered injuries from flying glass and debris as windows exploded from the shock wave. The toll is believed to be the largest number of people ever injured by space debris. "I am scratching my head to think of anything in recorded history when that number of people have been indirectly injured by an object like this," said Robert Massey, deputy executive secretary of Britain's Royal Astronomical Society (RAS). "It's very, very rare to have human casualties" from a meteorite, he said. Mr Yurevich said that two-thirds of the injuries were light wounds from pieces of glass and other materials. In the city of Chelyabinsk alone, 758 people had required medical help, the city said in a statement on its website. Sixteen were hospitalised, including three children. Video footage taken by residents on dashboard cameras in cars and mobile phones in the Urals city showed a meteor streaking through the sky, and then a blaze of light followed later by the sound of explosions and breaking glass.