Magnitude 5 earthquake hits southern Iran

By Haydar Sahin

TEHRAN, Iran (AA) - An earthquake measuring 5 on the Richter scale struck the province of Hormozgan in southern Iran Saturday, officials said.

Iran's National Seismological Center said the quake was centered in the Parsian county of the province, which borders the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman.

The tremor occurred at 7.27 p.m. local time (1557 GMT) and at a depth of 11 kilometers (6.8 miles).

Mehrdad Hassanzadeh, the head of emergency management in Hormozgan, said there were no reports of casualties or damage caused by the quake.

Iran is located in a seismically active zone and has been rocked by many medium-to-high intensity earthquakes in the past.

The most devastating earthquake came in 2013 when at least 34,000 people died in the city of Bam in southeastern Kerman province. The quake measured 6.7 on the Richter scale.

In recent months, a string of earthquakes has hit multiple provinces in southern and northern Iran.