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Hundreds Injured as Deadly Earthquake Strikes Northwest Iran

A magnitude 5.9 earthquake hit the city of Khoy, in northwestern Iran, overnight, killing at least three people and injuring more than 800 others, state media said on Sunday, January 29.

The quake hit the city of Khoy in West Azerbaijan province at 9:44 pm local time on Saturday, said the Seismological Center of the University of Tehran.

“This incident has left 816 injured and three dead,” West Azerbaijan governor Mohammad Sadegh Motamedian was quoted as saying by the Islamic Republic news agency (IRNA).

The Head of the Red Crescent Department in West Azarbaijan, Hamid Mahbubi, said relief and rescue teams had been dispatched to Khoy.

Footage posted to Instagram by the Iranian Red Crescent Society in the early hours of Sunday morning shows officials boarding a plane, people unloading a shipment of Red Crescent items, building tents for those affected, and Red Crescent and state officials visiting those affected. Credit: Iranian Red Crescent Society via Storyful