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Check Opened Into Meteor Repair Spending

Anti-corruption police in the Chelyabinsk region have opened a check into state spending to repair damage caused by the 10,000-ton meteor that spectacularly exploded over the region last month.

The regional administration allocated 129 million rubles ($4.2 million) to municipal officials to repair damage, including smashed windows in about 4,700 buildings, police said in a statement.

But allegations of misspending and profiteering have plagued the government's cleanup effort, which has seen 99 percent of windows damaged in the blast repaired, local police said Wednesday.

The meteor injured over 1,500 and caused about 1 billion rubles ($30 million) in damage when it blew up over the southern Urals on Feb. 15.

NASA estimated that the space rock was 49 meters by 55 meters and released about 30 times as much energy as the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945.

Five people remained hospitalized with meteor-related injuries as of Wednesday, police said.

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