Nearly 80 Injured In Turkey By Quake

Almost 80 people were injured in the Turkish resort of Bodrum after a magnitude 6.7 earthquake shook the Dodecanese Islands in Greece and the Aegean coast of Turkey, local media reported Friday.

Many of the injuries were caused by people jumping out of building windows and falling after reacting in panic to the overnight quake, NTV broadcaster said.

The wounded were being treated in the garden of the hospital in Bodrum as the quake caused slight damage to the hospital’s ceiling, Bodrum district governor Bekir Yilmaz said, quoted by Hurriyet daily.

Yilmaz expressed relief there had been no loss of life or anyone seriously injured by the quake on Turkish territory.

However, two people — a Swede and a Turk — were killed on the Greek island of Kos.

The Turkish foreign ministry said its consulate on the Greek island of Rhodes had confirmed the death of the Turkish citizen and was trying to contact the family.

The consulate added that one other Turkish citizen has been seriously injured and taken to Athens. A ferry has also been sent to evacuate 200 Turkish nationals from Kos back to Bodrum.

The epicentre of the quake was approximately 10.3 kilometres (6.4 miles) south of the southwestern resort, a magnet for holidaymakers in the summer, and 16.2 kilometres east of the island of Kos in Greece, the US Geological Survey said.

NTV television said the quake triggered a mini tsunami off the coast of Bodrum, with cars in the resort of Gumbet just outside Bodrum town damaged by the incoming waves that flooded onto roads.

Images showed boats had suffered damaged after being pushed up against the shore while the force of the waves had on its own moved cars.