Earthquake in Iran kills 1, injures 30

State TV says a magnitude 5.5 earthquake has killed one person and injured 30 in a small town in southern Iran.

It says the quake struck early Thursday morning in the town of Bastak, about 1,200 kilometres south of the capital, Tehran. It says many of the town buildings were damaged and that rescue workers were on the scene.

Later, the TV said 16 of the injured remain in hospital while 14 have been released after assistance. It also reported several aftershocks in the region of about 50,000 residents.

Iran sits on a series of seismic fault lines and experiences one slight quake a day on average.

In 2003, some 26,000 people were killed by a magnitude 6.6 quake that flattened the historic southeastern Iranian city of Bam.

ANN.Az