Three earthquakes kill five, injure 50 in Iran

Electricity was cut off in nearly 30 villages in the affected areas, according to state television.

Several earthquakes, including two of magnitude 6, struck southern Iran early Saturday morning, killing five and injuring around 50, the official Irna news agency reported.

A total of 49 people were injured as a result of three successive shallow earthquakes (between 10 and 16 km deep). The earthquakes shook the province of Hormozgan (south), in particular the village of Sayeh Khosh, which was the most affected, according to state television.

The first earthquake occurred around 2 a.m. local time with a magnitude of 6 at a depth of 10 miles, according to the United States Seismological Institute (USGS).

It was followed, two hours later, by two aftershocks of magnitude 5.7 and 6, at a depth of 10 km, according to the same source.

First Vice-President Iranian Mohammad Mokhber called on local officials to mobilize all available means in the province to bring relief to the victims, according to state television.

According to images from television, several residential buildings collapsed in Sayeh Khosh and the town was plunged into darkness following a power outage.

In Bandar Abbas, a port city and provincial capital home to half a million people, people spent the night on the streets after the quake and long queues formed outside stations -service, according to public television.

Electricity was also cut in nearly 30 villages located in the affected areas, according to the same source.

< p class="e-p">Search and rescue operations are almost over, the Red Crescent humanitarian organization said, quoted by television.

We are focusing on receiving the earthquake victims, provincial governor Mehdi Dousti said on television, adding that half of the village of Sayeh Khosh had been destroyed.

The tremor occurred in a area 100 kilometers southwest of the port of Bandar Abbas, according to the USGS.

One ​​person had previously been killed in November 2021 in the province of Hormozgan, hit by earthquakes of magnitude 6.4 and 6.3.

Located on the edge of several tectonic plates, Iran is an area of ​​high seismic activity.< /p>

In 2003, a magnitude 6.6 earthquake partially destroyed the city of Bam (southeast) and killed at least 31,000 people.

But the earthquake Iran's deadliest, magnitude 7.4, occurred in 1990, claiming 40,000 lives in the north of the country.