By Jane Fryer
Last updated at 9:13 AM on 03rd July 2008

At 7.17am on June 30, 1908, a towering column of light, bright as the sun
and blueygold in colour, hovered in the sky above the dense forests of
Siberia.

Minutes later came a blinding flash, a wall of blistering heat, a pillar
of
fire and a staggering explosion which flattened trees and bushes, and
burned everything in its path.

'The sky split in two and fire appeared high and wide over the forest,' a
member of the local Evenki tribe remembered.

'The split in the sky grew larger, and the entire northern side was
covered
with fire.

'At that moment I became so hot I couldn't bear it, as if my shirt was on
fire. I wanted to tear off my shirt and throw it down, and then the sky
slammed shut. A strong thump sounded and I was thrown a few yards.'

The Evenki tribesman was one of the lucky ones. The blast was 1,000 times
more powerful than the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.