On Wednesday, officials said at least 280 people were killed and more than 600 injured after a 6.1 magnitude earthquake in southeastern Afghanistan.
Interior Ministry official Salahuddin Ayubi mentioned that the majority of confirmed deaths were in the province of Paktika, where 255 people were killed and more than 200 others injured.
#BREAKING: As many as 280 people lost their lives and over 600 others were wounded following earthquake in #Paktika and #Khost province on Tuesday night, local officials told #BNA.
The death toll is likely to rise, local officials and residents said. pic.twitter.com/ca10Y8w476— Bakhtar News Agency (@BakhtarNA) June 22, 2022
He highlighted that there were reports about deaths also in Khost and Nangarhar provinces, while the authorities are investigating more casualties.
“The death toll is likely to rise as some of the villages are in remote areas in the mountains and it will take some time to collect details,” the official added.
Bakhtar’s director-general, Abdul Wahid Rayan, wrote on Twitter that 90 homes were destroyed in Paktika and dozens of people are believed to be trapped under the rubble.
The earthquakes extended to Kabul, the Afghan capital, as well as Islamabad and parts of Punjab province and border areas with Afghanistan.
The US Geological Survey indicated that the earthquake had a magnitude of 6.1, which took place 44 km from Khost province in southeastern the country, and was at a depth of 51 km.
The European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) said in a tweet that tremors were felt by about 119 million people in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and India over a distance of approximately 500 km.
“Strong and long jolts,” one witness from Kabul wrote on the EMSC website. “It was strong,” another witness said from Peshawar in northwestern Pakistan.
