6.1-magnitude earthquake hits Turkey’s Balıkesir, one dead

(AFP): A 6.1-magnitude quake struck Sindirgi in western Turkey on Sunday, the Turkish disaster management agency (AFAD) said, killing at least one person and injuring dozens more.

The quake was felt across several cities in the west of the country, including Istanbul and the tourist hotspot of Izmir.

"An 81-year-old person died soon after having been rescued from under the rubble," Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya told journalists at Sindirgi, the epicentre of the quake.

Another 29 people had been injured, but not seriously, he added.

The quake collapsed 16 buildings in Sindirgi and its surroundings, of which four were inhabited, including a three-storey building in the city centre, he said.

Several people were pulled alive from the rubble of the three-storey building, where six people were living. The person who died had also been buried under the rubble there before being freed.

Earlier, Mayor Serkan Sak had told Turkish private channel NTV: "Four were rescued from the rubble." Efforts to extract the two others were ongoing, he added.

Some 319 first responders were deployed to the affected zone, AFAD said.

The quake hit at 7:53 pm (1653 GMT), with some 20 aftershocks ranging from 3.5 to 4.6-magnitude, according to AFAD.

Turkey is crisscrossed by several geological fault lines, which have previously caused catastrophes in the country.

A quake in February 2023 in the southwest killed at least 53,000 people and devastated Antakya, the site of the ancient city of Antioch.

At the beginning of July, a 5.8-magnitude tremor in the same region resulted in one death and injured 69 people.