Dozens killed and injured following earthquake on Iran-Turkey border

On the morning of the fourth day of Esfand, an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.5 on the Richter scale shook northern West Azerbaijan and Van Province in Turkey, causing significant damage. Dozens of people were injured in Iran and several villages were severely damaged, while at least eight people have died in Turkey.

According to the state news agency IRNA, at 9:23 AM today, Sunday, the fourth of Esfand, an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.5 on the Richter scale struck the vicinity of the city of Qotur Khoy in northern West Azerbaijan.

The epicenter of the earthquake was 17 kilometers from Qotur, 31 kilometers from Khoy, and 115 kilometers from the city of Urmia, and according to the seismology center of the Institute of Geophysics at the University of Tehran, it occurred at a depth of six kilometers underground.

Based on statistics released so far, houses and buildings in 43 villages in Khoy and Salmas counties have been damaged.

Ismail Salem Khoyee, the secretary of the crisis management headquarters in Khoy, told IRNA on Sunday afternoon that so far 30 people have been injured due to damages caused by the earthquake, and this number is expected to increase.

He said that the injured in villages located at the epicenter of the earthquake have been identified and transferred to medical centers. Salem Khoyee described the damage to seven villages in the region as significant.

Amirabas Jafari, the general director of crisis management in West Azerbaijan, said the damage to earthquake-stricken villages ranges between 10 to 100 percent and stated that no reports of casualties have been received so far, with many of the injured suffering “minor fractures.”

At least eight deaths in Van, Turkey

The Qotur region is located near one of the border crossings between Iran and Turkey. The Anadolu Agency reported, citing Suleyman Soylu, the Interior Minister of Turkey, that eight people from the city of Bashkale in Van Province have died as a result of this earthquake.

Turkey’s Interior Minister also reported that five more people were injured in this village and said there is a possibility that some people may still be under the rubble.