Deadly 6.9 temblor topples buildings; at least 24 dead
ISTANBUL — A strong, 6.9 magnitude earthquake struck Friday in the Aegean Sea between the Turkish coast and the Greek island of Samos, killing at least 24 people and injuring more than 700 amid collapsed buildings and flooding, officials said.
A small tsunami struck the Seferihisar district south of Izmir, the city in western Turkey that was the worst affected, said Haluk Ozener, director of the Istanbul based Kandilli Observatory and Earthquake Research Institute.
At least 17 people were killed in Izmir, Turkey’s thirdlargest city, including one who drowned, and 709 were injured, according to Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency.
On Samos, where a tsunami warning was issued, two teenagers died after being struck by a wall that collapsed. At least 19 other people were injured.
Izmir Gov. Yavuz Selim Kosger said at least 70 people were rescued from wrecked buildings, with four destroyed and more than 10 collapsed.
Search and rescue efforts were under way in at least 17 buildings, authorities said. Turkish media showed rescuers pulling people from the rubble.
The earthquake, which the Kandilli institute said had a magnitude of 6.9, struck at 2: 51 p. m. in Turkey and was centered in the Aegean, northeast of Samos at a depth of 10.3 miles.
It was felt across the eastern Greek islands and as far as the Greek capital, Athens, and in Bulgaria. In Turkey, it was also felt across the regions of Aegean and Marmara, including Istanbul. Istanbul’s governor said there were no reports of damage in the city, Turkey’s largest.