TEHRAN: Up to 50 people were killed and 400 injured as two strong earthquakes jolted northwest Iran on Saturday, the head of the country's emergency services told ISNA news agency.
"According to the latest reports, about 40 to 50 people have been killed in the quakes today ... About 400 have also been injured and were transported to Tabriz and Ardebil," Gholamreza Masoumi said, quoted by ISNA.
Masoumi was referring to the biggest cities in the region and a neighbouring province.
The two temblors, registering 6.2 and 6.0 on the moment magnitude scale according to Tehran University's Seismological Centre, struck within minutes of each other, damaging scores of villages northeast of Tabriz.
The US Geological Survey, which monitors quakes worldwide, ranked them as more powerful than that, at 6.4 and 6.3, respectively. (AFP)