Magnitude 5.9 quake injures nearly 290 in western Iran

A magnitude 5.9 earthquake hit western Iran on Sunday, injuring at least 287 people, hours after two quakes struck Hormozgan province in the south, the official Iranian news agency IRNA reported.

Houshang Bazvand, governor of the affected province of Kermanshah, told IRNA that eight of the injured had been hospitalised and the rest were released after treatment.

State media said the two earlier earthquakes, with magnitudes of 4.7 and 5.7, had damaged buildings in a few villages without causing casualties.


Morteza Salimi, head of rescue at Iran's Red Crescent, said damage from the two earlier quakes appeared to be light. "Reports indicate that some walls have collapsed, but extensive damage has not been reported," Salimi told IRNA.

Iran is crisscrossed by major geological fault lines and has suffered several devastating earthquakes in recent years. Last November, a magnitude 7.3 earthquake hit western Kermanshah province, killing at least 620 people and injuring thousands.