A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck Turkiye’s northwestern province of Balikesir on Sunday, killing at least one person and causing more than a dozen buildings to collapse.
Officials said the quake, with its epicentre in the town of Sindirgi, injured at least 29 people and was felt as far as Istanbul, some 200 kilometres to the north, reports AP.
Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said an elderly woman died shortly after being pulled out alive from the debris of a collapsed building in Sindirgi. Four other people were rescued from the same structure.
A total of 16 buildings collapsed, most of them derelict and unused, along with two mosque minarets, the minister said. None of the injured were in serious condition.
Turkiye’s Disaster and Emergency Management Agency reported several aftershocks, including one measuring 4.6, and urged residents to stay out of damaged buildings.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed condolences and wished the injured a speedy recovery, writing on X: “May God protect our country from any kind of disaster.”
Turkiye, which sits atop major fault lines, is prone to frequent earthquakes. In 2023, a 7.8-magnitude quake killed more than 53,000 people in Turkiye and 6,000 in neighbouring Syria.