A strong earthquake hits the Turkish-Iranian border

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DUBAI (Reuters) – An earthquake of magnitude 5.9 struck the border area between Turkey and Iran on Saturday, destroying homes in a major provincial city in Iran, Iranian media and the European Mediterranean Seismological Center said.

“The scale of destruction in some homes and buildings in Khoy city is relatively high,” Mojtaba Khalidi, spokesman for Iran’s emergency services, told YJC news agency.

MSC said the quake measured 5.6 on the Richter scale and was at a depth of 10 kilometres. Iranian media said the quake had a magnitude of 5.9 and struck near the city of Khoy in Iran’s West Azerbaijan Province.

Iranian state media said rescue teams had been sent to the area and hospitals had been put on alert.

An emergency official told state television that snow was falling in some quake-affected areas amid freezing temperatures and power outages.

Coverage from the Dubai newsroom; Rishabh Jaiswal in Bengaluru; Editing by Angus McSwan and Raisa Kasulewski

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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