By IANS/RIA Novosti,
Moscow : At least 90 people were killed after an earthquake hit northwestern Iran Saturday, the Fars news agency reported.
Two powerful tremors measuring 6.4 and 6.3 on the Richter scale struck Saturday near the towns of Tabriz and Ahar with their epicentres registered at a depth of 9.8 km, according to the US Geological Survey.
“Our access to villages have been cut and we can only contact them by radio transceiver,” Mahmoud Mozaffar, head of the Iranian Rescue and Relief Organisation, told the Mehr news agency.
He said helicopters and rescuers were on their way to villages.
The quakes were also registered in neighbouring Azerbaijan but no casualties were reported.
The deadliest quake in Iran was in June 1990, which measured 7.7 points on the Richter scale. About 37,000 people were killed and more than 100,000 injured in the northern provinces of Gilan and Zanjan. The quake devastated 27 towns and about 1,870 villages, according to IRNA news agency.