At least 400 dead in Iran-Iraq quake

MORE than 400 people have been killed in an earthquake that struck Iran along its border with Iraq.

Thousands were injured and many more left homeless after buildings began ‘dancing in the air’ when the 7.3-magnitude tremor hit. Officials say the death toll is likely to rise.

The earthquake is the world’s deadliest this year and the worst to strike Iran in more than a decade. There were also a number of casualties in Iraq.

Desperate families dug into wreckage with their bare hands searching for relatives and thousands had to sleep in the street after their homes were reduced to rubble.

A mountainous area around the town of Sarpol-e-Zahab in western Iran was worst hit by the disaster, with at least 300 killed. Its main hospital was seriously damaged, leaving medics struggling to treat the wounded as members of the army were brought in to help.

Local MP Farhad Tajari said: ‘Sarpol-e Zahab has only one hospital, which was demolished. All patients and hospital staff have been buried beneath the rubble.’

The earthquake struck around 10pm on Sunday and a further 100 tremors followed – with some felt as far away as the Mediterranean coast, around 660 miles from the epicentre.

One man, named only as Khosrow, told the BBC: ‘Walls have fallen on my sisters and father. I had to drag them out of the house.

‘My mother is injured. My aunt, cousin and my cousin’s children died. The whole village is ruined.

‘There is no water. People are using water from the river. We have no food. We need water and warm clothes.’

Another, named as Mehrdad, said: ‘I have visited the villages near the centre of the earthquake to bring food and tents to my relatives. The villages have vanished.’

Majida Ameer told of how she ran for her life with her three children.

‘I was sitting with my kids having dinner and suddenly the building was dancing in the air,’ she said. ‘I thought at first it was a huge bomb. But then I heard everyone around me screaming: “Earthquake!”’.

Authorities said 70,000 people required emergency shelter. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson offered his condolences to the people of Iran and Iraq and said Britain ‘ stands ready to help the victims’.