At least 70 injured in an earthquake in northwest Iran

At least 70 people were injured in an earthquake that struck areas in northwestern Iran near the Turkish border on Wednesday, according to official sources in the Islamic Republic.

A tremor measuring 5.8 degrees on the Richter scale was recorded at a depth of 10 km in West Azerbaijan Province at 13:38 minutes by local time (13.08 GMT), according to the US Geological Survey.

For its part, the Seismological Center of the Geophysical Institution at the University of Tehran reported that the tremor was of 5.4 magnitude and at a depth of 12 km in the city of Khoy.

Iranian state television quoted local officials as saying that "at least 70 people were injured" in the earthquake, noting that 300 houses were damaged.

Iran sits on several major tectonic plates and is subject to frequent seismic activity.

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