Afghanistan Earthquake: Death Toll Leaps To 1000, 1500 People Left Injured

Kabul: The death toll in the 6.1 magnitude Earthquake that rocked Afghanistan early on Wednesday has climbed up and rose to 1000 people from the earlier figure of 250 casualties.

According to the state-run Bakhtar News Agency, 1500 people are likely to have been injured due to the earthquake.

As per the US Geological Survey, the epicenter of the quake was about 44 km from the city of Khost in Afghanistan and was at a depth of 51 km.

Interior ministry official Salahuddin Ayubi said that most of the confirmed deaths were reported from the eastern Afghan province of Paktika, where 255 people had been killed and over 200 incurred injuries.

''25 people had been killed and 90 taken to hospital in Khost province,'' he added.

Bakhtar News Agency reported the death toll and said rescuers were arriving by helicopter.

The news agency's director-general, Abdul Wahid Rayan, wrote on Twitter that 90 houses have been destroyed in Paktika and dozens of people are believed to have been trapped under the rubble.

This earthquake was so strong that people also felt tremors in Lahore, Multan, and Quetta of neighboring Pakistan. Apart from this, there are reports of tremors being felt in India as well.

''Strong and long jolts," a resident of the Afghan capital, Kabul, posted on a website of the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC).

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