Sharjah24 - AFP: Overnight, a 5.9-magnitude earthquake struck northwest Iran, wounding more than 800 people and killing at least three, according to reports from government officials and the media.
Panicked residents fled their homes as buildings collapsed and rubble crushed cars, with hundreds seeking shelter from freezing winter conditions in evacuation centres as more than 20 aftershocks rattled the region.
The shallow quake hit the city of Khoy, with a population of around 200,000, in West Azerbaijan province at 9:44 pm (1814 GMT) Saturday, said the Seismological Center of the University of Tehran.
"This incident has left 816 injured and three dead," West Azerbaijan governor Mohammad Sadegh Motamedian was quoted as saying by IRNA news agency.
People were seen wrapped in blankets and huddling around fires in the snow-dusted region, in images published by Iranian media, as state TV broadcast footage of major damage to residential buildings, including half-destroyed houses.
Buildings in 70 villages suffered quake damage, the state news agency reported, with rescuers clearing rubble to free those trapped in the area around 800 kilometres (500 miles) northwest of the capital Tehran.
Iran's Red Crescent Society chief, Pirhossein Koolivand, later announced the search and rescue operations had finished, with no more survivors or bodies believed trapped.
Iran's interior minister, Ahmad Vahidi, travelled to Khoy to observe the situation, where he said water, power and gas connections were impacted but being restored, IRNA reported.
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