More Than 300 People Near The Iran–Iraq Border Died From A Powerful Earthquake
Magnitude of 7.3 quake injured more than 2,500 people today.
Estimatly than 300 people have died after a 7.3 quake struck an area of northern Iran close to the border with Iraq, with thousands more injured, local and state media have reported.
The epicenter of the quake, which struck at around 9.20 p.m. local time (1.30 p.m. ET) Sunday, was in the Iranian town of Ezgeleh, according to Iran’s Crisis Management Organization and the US Geological Survey.
Most of the damage appears to center on the Iranian Kermanshah province, perched between Zagros Mountains, dividing Iran and Iraq.
As of noon on Monday local time, as many as 348 people had been killed, according to the National Disaster Management Organization of Iran, Iranian news outlet Press TV reported.
As many as 5,953 people were injured, according to IRNA (the Islamic Republic News Agency) and Iranian news agencies ISNA and Khabar, who quoted health officials.
Mojtaba Nikkerdar, deputy governor of Kermanshah province, told state TV: "There are still people under the rubble. We hope the number of dead and injured won’t rise too much, but it will rise.”
The Iranian Red Crescent reported that 70,000 people were in need of emergency shelter.
However, Iran's emergency services chief Pir Hossein Koolivand told AFP that landslides were preventing rescuers from reaching some of the more remote areas.
The death toll jumped sharply Monday morning, with the Legal Medical Organization of Kermanshah initially confirming to Press TV that they had accepted 207 bodies to the morgue – a figure that was soon surpassed by national officials.
Pictures and videos on social media showed crumbled buildings, with workers and locals digging through the night to try and get people out of the wreckage.
One of the worst hit spots was the town of Sarpol-e Zahab, in Kermanshah province, the New York Times reported.
“My friend was screaming, saying, ‘I lost my home,’” a woman who lives in the town posted on Twitter. “Thank God, she and her family are doing well. She said people were only mourning and their loved ones were under the rubble.”
The head of the Iran's emergency services also told Reuters that the Kermanshah province's hospital had been damaged in the quake and couldn't treat the hundreds in need of care.
Estimatly than 300 people have died after a 7.3 quake struck an area of northern Iran close to the border with Iraq, with thousands more injured, local and state media have reported.
The epicenter of the quake, which struck at around 9.20 p.m. local time (1.30 p.m. ET) Sunday, was in the Iranian town of Ezgeleh, according to Iran’s Crisis Management Organization and the US Geological Survey.
Most of the damage appears to center on the Iranian Kermanshah province, perched between Zagros Mountains, dividing Iran and Iraq.
As of noon on Monday local time, as many as 348 people had been killed, according to the National Disaster Management Organization of Iran, Iranian news outlet Press TV reported.
As many as 5,953 people were injured, according to IRNA (the Islamic Republic News Agency) and Iranian news agencies ISNA and Khabar, who quoted health officials.
Mojtaba Nikkerdar, deputy governor of Kermanshah province, told state TV: "There are still people under the rubble. We hope the number of dead and injured won’t rise too much, but it will rise.”
The Iranian Red Crescent reported that 70,000 people were in need of emergency shelter.
However, Iran's emergency services chief Pir Hossein Koolivand told AFP that landslides were preventing rescuers from reaching some of the more remote areas.
The death toll jumped sharply Monday morning, with the Legal Medical Organization of Kermanshah initially confirming to Press TV that they had accepted 207 bodies to the morgue – a figure that was soon surpassed by national officials.
Pictures and videos on social media showed crumbled buildings, with workers and locals digging through the night to try and get people out of the wreckage.
One of the worst hit spots was the town of Sarpol-e Zahab, in Kermanshah province, the New York Times reported.
“My friend was screaming, saying, ‘I lost my home,’” a woman who lives in the town posted on Twitter. “Thank God, she and her family are doing well. She said people were only mourning and their loved ones were under the rubble.”
The head of the Iran's emergency services also told Reuters that the Kermanshah province's hospital had been damaged in the quake and couldn't treat the hundreds in need of care.
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