4 dead after 6.4 magnitude earthquake hits Albania, over 150 injured

Representational image (Photo: IStock)


At least four people were killed and more than a hundred injured after a powerful 6.4 magnitude jolted Albania in the early hours of Tuesday, according to authorities.

The quake was felt across the Balkans, from Sarajevo to Bosnia and even in the Serbian city of Novi Sad almost 700 kilometres away, according to reports in local media and on social networks.

The tremor was followed by several aftershocks, including one of the magnitude 5.3, the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre.

The Defence Ministry said that a man and a woman were killed after a building collapsed in Thumane, 36 kilometres north of Tirana.

Authorities reported that the scores of aftershocks and called on people in the most affected areas to stay out of their homes.

People were seeing cracks in their apartment, they have left homes to go to open areas.

According to local media, a restaurant was destroyed in western Durres.

In September this year, the same region of Albania was hit by the 5.6-magnitude quake which was later described by authorities as to the strongest earthquake of the last 20-30 years.

The Balkans is an area prone to seismic activity and earthquakes are frequent.