Iranian Quake Kills 50, Injures 850

A strong earthquake followed by several aftershocks jolted western Iran early Friday, killing at least 50 people and injuring at least 850, state media reported.

The quake had a preliminary magnitude of 5.0 and struck Boroujerd and Doroud, two industrial cities in western Iran, at 1:05 a.m. local time Friday, according to the official Islamic Republic News Agency.

The epicenter was in the mountainous villages south of Boroujerd and north of Doroud.

Two more aftershocks struck the mountainous region. A third tremor had a magnitude of 6.0, hitting Doroud and surrounding villages at 4:47 a.m. local time Friday, IRNA reported.

State-run television said 21 bodies have been pulled out of destroyed houses in Silakhor, a region north of Doroud.

The broadcast said 850 people have been injured, most of them in bed, when the quake struck.

Provincial official Ali Barani said several villages hardest hit have been flattened by the quake.

Barani told IRNA that rescue teams have been sent to the region to help the survivors.

The injured have been taken to hospitals in Boroujerd and Doroud, he said.

Doroud governor Nasrollah Rashno told IRNA that the quake has damaged buildings in rural areas and cut telephone lines.

The earthquake was classified as moderate, but such quakes have killed thousands of people in the past in the Iranian countryside where houses are often built of bricks.

The quake in the middle of the night caused panic, with citizens in Doroud running out of their homes. Many spent the night in open space, residents said.

"We are afraid to get back home. I spent the night with my family and guests in open space last night," Doroud resident Mahmoud Chaharmiri told The Associated Press by telephone.

Chaharmiri said there were no scenes of destruction in Doroud as those seen in the past in the wake of similar quakes in other regions of Iran.

In February 2005, a 6.4-magnitude quake rocked the town of Zarand in southern Iran, killing 612 people and injuring more than 1,400.

A magnitude-6.6 quake flattened the historic southeastern city of Bam in the same region in December 2003, killing 26,000 people.

Iran is located on seismic fault lines and is prone to earthquakes. It experiences an average of at least one slight earthquake every day.