Horror of British tourists as killer quake hits island
BRITISH holidaymakers told last night of their terror as hotels were left “shaking like jelly” when a severe earthquake struck six miles under the sea between Turkey and Greece.
The shockwave – 6.7 on the Richter scale – killed two people on the Greek sunshine island of Kos, leaving hundreds injured in both countries.
The epicentre in the Aegean was six miles south of the Turkish resort of Bodrum and 10 miles east of Kos.
The dead, who were crushed under debris, have not been named. One was Swedish and the other Turkish.
Turkey’s health minister, Ahmet Demircan, said 358 people were hurt in Bodrum and 115 on Kos. The quake sparked a two-foot tidal wave that flooded part of the island.
In Kos and on the Turkish coast holidaymakers revealed their terror.
Swaying
Student Naomi Ruddock, 22, from London, is in Kos with her mother, Eleanor. She said: “We were asleep and felt the room shaking. It was as if you were on a boat swaying from side to side. I felt seasick.”
Student Lauren Duffy, 20, from Merseyside, said glass and lumps of marble rained down.
She was in Lambi near Kos Town and spent the night outside with other distraught guests as aftershocks rocked the island.
She said: “We were woken up by aggressive shaking. We didn’t know what it was. It was scary.”
In Turkey the shockwaves were felt miles away. Kristian Stevens, a British tourist, was in Didim, 60 miles from Bodrum. He said his hotel began to “shake like a jelly”.
Sophie Wild, 21, from Canterbury, fled her third-floor room in Altinkum, 500 miles from Bodrum. She said: “People were banging on doors, making sure everyone had fled outside.”
Former Premier League star Kevin McNaughton was near Dalaman, 120 miles from Bodrum. The ex-Cardiff City player said: “My room was shaking. I was outside unsure what to do.”
The Association of British Insurers said people booked to go to Greece or Turkey should check Foreign Office advice and talk to their tour operator.
The quake struck at just before midnight British time on Thursday.
In 1999, 17,000 people were killed by a quake in north-west of Turkey.