The space rock incursion was described as “blindingly bright” and made a loud booming sound as it sped across the sky.
It was the third major meteor or meteorite event registered over Siberia in four months.
A frightened local woman said: “I panicked as it sounded and looked like a plane on fire.
“I got really scared of the noise and shine it created.”
One woman, called Svetlana, doubted it was a meteor claiming the UFO flew “parallel to the ground” and “vanished” in the air instead of falling.
‘PLANE ON FIRE’
A man said: “It was incredibly stunning, really beautiful.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything as beautiful as this.”
After it vanished he “heard a noise – boom, boom! – as if something was exploding in the sky.”
Some residents said the meteorite was “blindingly bright, akin to the light and sparks created during intense welding work”.
The space rock split into several parts before vanishing in the sky eastwards over the Irkutsk region of Siberia.
“I pulled a phone out of my pocket, but it flew across the sky so fast that I only caught a long white trace it left,” said one woman.
The local ministry of emergencies confirmed a meteor had been registered but said there was no threat to people or infrastructure, reported The Siberian Times.
Expert Viktor Grokhovsky from Ural Federal University, said: “It exploded quite high in the sky somewhere over Irkutsk region…
“Its structure must have been quite loose given that it split into fragments.”
This was the third major extraterrestrial incident in four months over Siberia.
It was visible for only around five seconds but its bright flash and booming noise meant it had many witnesses.
