Quake kills 10 in Iran

The quake hit Qeshm island at 1:53 pm (1023 GMT) and was felt for more than 10 seconds, the official news agency IRNA said.

"Ten people have been killed. The number of injured has increased to around 100," the governor of Qeshm island, Heydar Alishbandi, told AFP by telephone as he toured the affected area.

"Five villages have suffered damage of between 40 and 70 percent. Most of the houses are made of mud bricks so are now unsafe," he added.

The Gulf island, home to some 100,000 people, is situated off the coast from the large port city of Bandar Abbas.

Iranian state television put the intensity of the quake at 5.9 on the Richter scale, but the US Geological Survey put the magnitude of the quake slightly higher at 6.1.

The rocky and barren island was hit almost two years after the southeastern city of Bam -- situated 300 kilometres (190 miles) to the north -- was destroyed in a quake that killed tens of thousands of people.

Qeshm, located 1,150 kilometres southeast of Tehran, has a busy commercial and fishing port and is also a popular weekend sunshine getaway for Iranian tourists.

However the governor said the island's main town, also called Qeshm, was undamaged. The affected villages were identified as Gabardin, Tonban, Karvan, Tourian and Khaldin -- all situated in the less densely populated west of the island.

"The rescue operation started 10 minutes after the incident. The injured are being taken away by helicopter," the head of the Iranian Red Crescent's rescue unit, Shahram Alamdari, told Iranian media.

"We are also ready to receive the injured in Tehran," he said.