Iran: Five dead, dozens injured in magnitude 6.1 earthquake

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – Five people were killed and 49 others injured when a magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck Iran’s coastal province of Hormozgan on Saturday, Reuters reports. The region was struck again a short while later by two further earthquakes of over 6.0 magnitude.

The first quake struck at 2 am and destroyed the village of Sayeh Khosh at its epicenter, Reuters reports. Sayeh Khosh in Hormozgan province has around 300 people in Hormozgan province and is located around 620 miles south of Tehran. Around 24 other tremors followed this one, including two with a magnitude of 6.3 and 6.1 respectively.

“All of the victims died in the first earthquake and no one was harmed in the next two severe quakes as people were already outside their homes,” Foad Moradzadeh, governor of Bandar Lengeh country, was quoted as saying by Iranian news agency IRNA.

Forty-nine people were treated in hospital, emergency services spokesperson Mojtaba Khaledi told state TV; half of these were sent home following treatment, Reuters reports. Search and rescue operations have ended.

Located on major geological fault lines stretching across it, Iran is hit by one earthquake a day on average. In 2003, a magnitude 6.6 earthquake in Kerman province killed 31,000 people in Kerman province and destroyed the ancient city of Bam. A magnitude 7 quake killed 600 people in western Iran in 2017.

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