Nine dead in Turkey as quake strikes western Iran

Ankara, February 23

Nine persons were killed in Turkey in a magnitude 5.7 earthquake that struck western Iran early Sunday morning, Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said.

The quake centered west of the Iranian city of Khoy and affected villages in the Turkish province of Van.

Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu told a news conference that three children and four adults were killed in Turkey’s Baskule district.

Koca later updated the number of fatalities to nine and wrote on Twitter that 37 people were injured, including nine in a critical but not life-threatening condition.

Emergency teams have been sent to the remote mountainous region.

Iran’s official IRNA news agency said the earthquake affected 43 villages in the mountainous Qotour area.

It later added that at least 75 people had been injured, six of whom were hospitalised.

According to the European Mediterranean Seismological Center (EMSC), the quake, which happened at 9:22am local time (0552GMT), had a depth of 5 kilometers (3 miles).

The region has a history of powerful earthquakes. – AP