Earthquake hits southern Iran, 700 injured
Tehran Times Political Desk

BANDAR ABBAS, Iran -- An earthquake struck Iran's southern province of Hormozgan early on Wednesday, injuring about 700 people.

The quake measuring 4.9 on the Richter scale happened at 02:56 local time and damaged houses and electricity lines in the port city of Bandar Abbas, Iranian News Channel reported.

The earthquake also shook the Qeshm Island, located a few kilometers off the southern coast of Iran.

Most of the injured have been discharged from hospitals and only those who suffered more injuries are hospitalized.

Farshid Abedi, the chancellor of Hormozgan Medical University, said the people were injured as they were fleeing homes from the quake.

Last year, a strong earthquake measuring 6.1 in magnitude hit Hormozgan, demolishing nearly 200 villages and killing at least six people.

Iran lies on a series of seismic fault lines and has experienced devastating earthquakes -- most notably in December 2003 when a 6.6 magnitude quake devastated the ancient city of Bam in southeast Iran, killing at least 30,000 people.

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