The incident occurred after the launch of a Proton-M carrier rocket from the Baikonur space center, leased by Russia in nearby Kazakhstan, on March 15. The wreckage has been collected and removed by helicopter.
"No rocket fuel or its derivatives have been found. There has been no contamination," said Alexander Puzanov, deputy director of Russian Academy of Sciences Institute of Water and Ecological Studies (Siberian division).
The wreckage landed in three villages of the Ust-Kansky Region some 60 kilometers (37 miles) outside the designated area for rocket debris.
A small fragment landed in a village in the Altai Republic destroying a shed roof. Other wreckage landed close to houses, but no casualties have been reported. The largest fragment measured five meters (16 feet).
The Altai Republic has been used as a 'cemetery' for fallen fragments of carrier rockets launched from the Baikonur space center for more than 40 years. Experts estimate that about 2.5 metric tons of space waste has fallen in unpopulated areas of the republic during this period.
On February 5, shortly after the launch of a Proton-M rocket from Baikonur, a three-and-a-half-meter (11 feet) long rocket fragment landed a few meters from the house of an Altai shepherd.
The man, who was uninjured in the incident, said he and his children had been extremely frightened and demanded compensation of 500,000 rubles ($21,000).
Another Siberian farmer claimed that in the year since a fragment of a rocket fell near his herd of horses, four of the horses had died. However, scientists rejected his claims.
