At least seven people, including three children, died in Van province in eastern Turkey after a 5.7-magnitude earthquake struck northwestern Iran on Sunday February 23 of the border with Turkey, announced the Turkish Minister of the Interior Süleyman Soylu, quoted by the state agency Anadolu.

Five other people were injured and hospitalized and others are said to be trapped under the rubble, added Süleyman Soylu, adding that "search and rescue efforts are continuing".

On the Iranian side, 25 people were injured, Mojtaba Khalédi, spokesman for the National Relief Service, told AFP. Seven were hospitalized.

According to the United States Institute of Geological Studies, the epicenter of the earthquake, which occurred at 05:53 GMT (09:23 local), was located near the Iranian village of Habash-e Olya, less than ten kilometers from the border with the Turkey.

Damage still difficult to measure

The epicenter of the earthquake was at a depth of 6 km, according to the earthquake study center of the Institute of Geophysics of the University of Tehran.

The earthquake also damaged an unknown number of houses in four villages near the epicenter, added Mojtaba Khalédi.

Van province governor Mehmet Emin Bilmez reported on Twitter "damage in several populated areas" within his jurisdiction.

In early February, this province was hit by two avalanches which killed 41 people, ten days after a powerful earthquake in the province of Elazig, also in eastern Turkey, which left the same number of victims.

With AFP

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