At least five killed due to quake in Southern Iran

AFP

At least five people were killed, and 49 injured by a magnitude 6.1 earthquake in southern Iran early on Saturday, with the area also hit soon after by two strong quakes of up to 6.3 magnitude.

The state media reported.

Some 24 tremors, two with a magnitude of 6.3 and 6.1, followed the 2 a.m. (1:30 a.m. UAE time) quake that flattened the village of Sayeh Khosh near Iran's Gulf coast in Hormozgan province. The most recent tremor occurred around 8 a.m. (7:30 a.m. UAE time), officials told state TV.

"All of the victims died in the first earthquake, and no one was harmed in the next two as people were already outside their homes," said Foad Moradzadeh, governor of Bandar Lengeh country, quoted by the state news agency IRNA.

Emergency services spokesperson Mojtaba Khaledi told state TV that half of the 49 people injured had been discharged from hospitals.

Officials said search and rescue operations had ended.

Saeid Pourzadeh of the Kish island crisis task force said Gulf shipping and flights had not been affected by the quakes.

State TV said 150 quakes and tremors had struck western Hormozgan over the past month.

Major geological fault lines crisscross Iran, which has suffered several devastating earthquakes in recent years. In 2003, a magnitude 6.6 quake in Kerman province killed 31,000 people and flattened the ancient city of Bam.

Tremors were also felt in parts of the UAE. Although no damage was reported, some residents did need to evacuate their buildings as a safety measure and took to social media to post about their experience. 

More from International News

  • US prosecutors to seek death penalty for Luigi Mangione

    U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi directed federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty for Luigi Mangione, the man accused of shooting and killing the CEO of UnitedHealth Group's insurance division Brian Thompson in New York last year.

  • UN warns window to find Myanmar quake survivors closing

    Aid groups in Myanmar on Tuesday described scenes of devastation and desperation after an earthquake that killed more than 2,700 people, stressing an urgent need for food, water and shelter and warning the window to find survivors was fast closing.

  • Trump administration begins mass layoffs at health agencies

    The Trump administration has fired staff at U.S. health agencies including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Food and Drug Administration and National Institutes of Health, as it embarked on its plan to cut 10,000 health jobs, according to sources familiar with the situation and a health official.

  • Israel says it 'eliminated' Hezbollah operative in Beirut strike

    The Israeli military said it killed a Hezbollah operative in an airstrike on Beirut's southern suburbs early on Tuesday, while three other people were reported killed and seven injured, further testing a shaky four-month ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.

Blogs