Three dead in earthquake as Iranians flee into streets and rubble crushes cars
At least three people have been killed and more than 800 injured after a 5.9-magnitude earthquake in Iran, state media has reported.
The quake struck on Saturday in north-west Iran near the border with Turkey, hitting the city of Khoy in West Azerbaijan province at 9.44pm local time, the University of Tehran’s Seismological Centre said.
Panicked residents fled their homes as buildings collapsed and rubble crushed cars, with hundreds seeking shelter from freezing winter conditions in evacuation centres. More than 20 aftershocks hit the region.
“This incident has left 816 injured and three dead,” West Azerbaijan Governor Mohammad Sadegh Motamedian said, Irna news agency reported.
People were wrapped in blankets and huddling around fires in the snow-dusted region, in images published by the Iranian media, as state TV broadcast footage of halfdestroyed houses.
Buildings in 70 villages suffered damage, the state news agency reported, with rescuers clearing rubble to free those trapped in the area about 800km north-west of Tehran.
Iran’s Red Crescent Society chief Pir Hossein Koolivand later said search and rescue operations had finished.
Iran’s Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi travelled to Khoy to observe the situation, where he said water, power and gas connections were affected but being restored, Irna reported.
Snow fell in some of the affected areas, with freezing temperatures and power cuts reported, an official told state TV.
Iran is on the boundaries of several major tectonic plates and experiences frequent seismic activity.
On January 18, a 5.8 quake near Khoy injured hundreds.
In February 2020, a 5.7-magnitude earthquake in the western village of Habash-e Olya killed at least nine across the border in Turkey.
Iran’s deadliest recorded quake was a 7.4-magnitude tremor in 1990 in the north of the country that killed 40,000.