An earthquake hits the residents of the Iranian city of Choy not far from the border with Turkey. At least three people die and more than 800 are injured. The Minister of the Interior is on site to coordinate the aid.
An earthquake in north-west Iran has killed at least three people and injured hundreds more. The 5.9-magnitude tremor shook the city of Choy on Saturday evening, Iran's state news agency IRNA reported.
The governor of the province of West Azerbaijan on the Turkish border, Mohammed Sadegh Motamedian, spoke of three fatalities and 816 injuries. According to Irna, Interior Minister Ahmad Wahidi traveled to Choy to get an idea of the situation and to coordinate the aid.
Several tectonic plates collide in Iran. Earthquakes are therefore common in the region. On January 18, an earthquake near Choy injured hundreds of people. In February 2020, an earthquake in the western Iranian village of Habash-e Olya killed at least nine people.
The most devastating known earthquake in Iran occurred in 1990. The magnitude 7.4 earthquake killed around 40,000 people in the north of the country and injured another 300,000. Half a million residents lost their homes.
