By Neelam Rahim

At least five people were killed by a magnitude-6.1 earthquake in southern Iran early on Saturday, with the realm also hit by two later strong quakes of up to 6.3 magnitudes.

Some 24 tremors, two with a magnitude of 6.3 and 6.1, followed the 2 am standard time quake that flattened the village of Sayeh Khosh near Iran’s Gulf Coast in Hormozgan province. The recent major tremor occurred around 8 am.

“Rescue work has been meted out and that we are now providing tents as emergency housing.”

“All of the victims died within the first earthquake and no-one was harmed within the next two severe quakes as people were already outside their homes,” said Foad Moradzadeh, governor of Bandar Lengeh country by the state agency IRNA.

Emergency services spokesperson Mojtaba Khaledi told state TV that half of the 49 injured had been discharged from hospitals.

Officials said search and rescue operations had ended.

Saeid Pourzadeh of the Kish island crisis task force said the quakes had not tormented Gulf shipping and flights.

State TV said 150 quakes and tremors had struck western Hormozgan over the past month.

Saeid Pourzadeh of the Kish island crisis task force said the quakes had not plagued Gulf shipping and flights.

Major fracture lines criss-cross Iran, which has suffered several devastating earthquakes in recent years. In 2003, a magnitude 6.6 quake in Kerman province killed 31,000 people and flattened the traditional city of Bam.