DUBAI: A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck southern Iran early Saturday, killing at least five people, according to state media, with the area also hit by two subsequent strong quakes of up to 6.3 magnitudes.
“Five people died in the earthquake… and 12 people have been hospitalized so far,” Mehrdad Hassanzadeh, head of emergency management in Hormozgan Province on Iran’s Gulf coast, told state TV. “Rescue operations have been completed, and we are now providing tents as emergency housing.”
A magnitude 6.3 earthquake and a magnitude 6.1 quake followed the 6.1 quakes that flattened the village of Sayeh Khosh near Iran’s Gulf coast, according to the state news agency IRNA. There were at least a dozen aftershocks.
“All of the victims died in the first earthquake, and no one was harmed in the next two severe quakes because people were already outside their homes,” Foad Moradzadeh, governor of Bandar Lengeh country, was quoted by the state news agency IRNA as saying.
Major geological fault lines crisscross Iran, which has recently experienced several devastating earthquakes. A magnitude 6.6 earthquake in Kerman province in 2003 killed 31,000 people and destroyed the ancient city of Bam.
