Russian authorities have halted their search for remains of the meteorite that spectacularly struck the Urals last week, leaving about 1,200 people injured and damaging several thousand buildings.

The 10-tonne space rock streaked over the Chelyabinsk region in central Russia in a blinding fireball on Friday just as the world was braced for a close encounter with a large asteroid.NASA scientists estimated the amount of energy released in the atmosphere was about 30 times greater than the force of the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima during World War II. The meteor exploded in the atmosphere over Chelyabinsk, a city of 1.1 million and the centre of Russia's heavy industry, blowing out thousands of windows and causing other damage to buildings.Despite an intensive search of a frozen lake where fisherman found a large hole they thought was caused by the meteorite, no remnants have been found.