At least five hundred seventy-one persons are injured, Deputy Health Minister Igor Kagramanyan told news today. Young children are among the injured. Many injuries stem from broken glass. Local news is reporting that one meteor entered the atmosphere, broke, and sent fragments to Chelyabinsk and Kazakhstan.

“There have never been any cases of meteorites breaking up at such a low level over Russia before,” said Yuri Burenko, head of the Chelyabinsk branch of the Emergencies Ministry said in a news statement today. Residents are denouncing the lack of initial broadcast news coverage of the Russian meteor. Details of the meteor dominated social media for hours before U.S. broadcasters began running coverage. Officials indicate that, of the twenty-two persons hospitalized, none are believed to have suffered serious injuries.

“Verified information indicates that this was one meteorite which burned up as it approached Earth and disintegrated into smaller pieces,” deputy head of the Russian Emergencies Ministry press office, Elena Smirnykh, said in a statement Friday.