Deadly quake strikes northwest Iran

More than 180 people were killed and around 1,300 others were injured officials said, when two earthquakes struck northwest Iran on Saturday, damaging dozens of villages northeast of Tabriz.


The quakes, which struck Saturday within 11 minutes of each other, measured 6.2 and 6.0 on the moment magnitude scale, according to Tehran University's Seismological Centre.

The US Geological Survey, which monitors seismic activity worldwide, ranked them as more powerful than that, at 6.4 and 6.3, respectively.


"Unfortunately, the toll is mounting and we are now at 180 dead and some 1,300 injured," Khalil Saie, the head of the regional natural disasters centre, told state television .

"Up to now, there are no deaths reported in the cities and all the victims come from rural areas," he said.

With telephone communications interrupted by the quakes, emergency teams were relying on radios and travelling in person to hard-hit villages to assess and rescue.