- Series of powerful earthquakes hit southern Iran on Saturday, killing at least five and injuring over 80.
- The quakes struck west of the major port city of Bandar Abbas in Hormozgan province.
- The Islamic republic’s deadliest quake was a 7.4-magnitude tremor in 1990 that killed 40,000 people.
A series of powerful earthquakes shook southern Iran on Saturday, killing at least five people, injuring over 80 others, and levelling dozens of buildings.
The quakes, two of which were magnitude 6.0, struck west of the major port city of Bandar Abbas in Hormozgan province, according to the US Geological Survey.
The first rattled an area north of the town of Dezhgan shortly after 2:00 am (2130 GMT), before a 5.7 tremor hit two hours later followed quickly by the second 6.0 magnitude quake, said the USGS.
Hormozgan governor Mehdi Dousti said five people were killed, as cited by the official news agency IRNA.
Dousti told state television that the village of Sayeh Khosh, close to the epicentre, had been completely destroyed.
“84 people were injured out of whom only 15 are still in hospital for treatment,” national emergency services spokesman Mojtaba Khaledi told state television
The state broadcaster showed video footage of residential buildings reduced to rubble in Sayeh Khosh, which was plunged into darkness in a power outage.
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