DUBAI: According to official media, a magnitude 6.1 earthquake in southern Iran early on Saturday morning left at least five people dead and 49 injured.
The region was then struck shortly after by two more powerful tremors that could have been as strong as 6.3. A total of 24 tremors, including two with magnitudes of 6.3 and 6.1, occurred after the quake that destroyed the village of Sayeh Khosh in Hormozgan province near Iran’s Gulf coast around 2 a.m. local time.
According to officials, the most recent tremor happened at about 8 a.m.Food Moradzadeh, governor of Bandar Lengeh province, was quoted by the state news agency IRNA as saying, “All of the victims died in the first earthquake and no one was wounded in the next two severe quakes as everyone was already outside their homes.” According to Mojtaba Khaledi, spokesman for emergency services, half of the 49 injured people have been released from hospitals. Search and rescue efforts, according to officials, have ceased.
The Kish island crisis task force Saeid Pourzadeh claimed that the quakes had no impact on planes or ships in the Gulf. Iran is crisscrossed by significant geological fault lines, and in recent years, there have been numerous disastrous earthquakes there.
A magnitude 6.6 earthquake in the Kerman province in 2003 destroyed the historic city of Bam and killed 31,000 people.
