The Latest on the earthquake in Greece and Turkey (all times local) :
KOS, Greece (AP) — The Latest on the earthquake in Greece and Turkey (all times local) :
9 p.m.
Two strong aftershocks have struck the eastern Greek island of Kos within minutes of each other, sending startled residents and tourists scurrying away from homes and restaurants.
A 4.4 magnitude tremor struck Saturday night at 8: 09 p.m. (1709 GMT) , followed by a 4.6 magnitude shock 16 minutes later, the Athens Geodynamics Institute reports. The first one was closest to the island, 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) to the northeast at a depth of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) .
Worried residents and tourists gathered in the middle of the town’s main square, as far away as possible from buildings.
The tremors are among the strongest aftershocks since an early morning quake Friday that killed two men on Kos and injured nearly 500 other people across the Aegean Sea region that includes both Greece and Turkey.
____
6: 15 p.m.
Crews of experts have begun examining the damage to infrastructure and cultural monuments on the eastern Greek island of Kos after a powerful earthquake killed two tourists and injured nearly 500 others in the Aegean Sea region.
In Kos, churches, an old mosque, the port’s 14th-century castle and other old buildings suffered in the quake and were being checked by archaeologists and experts from Greece’s Culture Ministry.
Hundreds of residents and tourists spent the night sleeping outdoors on the island, too afraid to return to their homes or hotels after the quake that struck in early Friday. Many camped out in parks and olive groves, or slept in their cars or on beach and swimming pool lounge chairs.
The U. S. Geological Survey measured the quake as being of magnitude 6.7, with Greek and Turkish estimates a fraction lower. Two men were killed when a collapsing wall smashed into a bar in Kos.
___
2: 35 p.m.
The family of a Turkish tourist who was one of two people to have died in the powerful earthquake that struck the eastern Greek island of Kos is on the island to prepare for the body’s repatriation.
Sinan Kurtoglu, 39, was killed in the quake that struck early Friday, as was a tourist from Sweden.
Kurtoglu’s father, Ali Kurtoglu, was on the island and was completing procedures to repatriate his son’s body.
The imam of Kos, Serif Damadoglou, said the remains were to be transported to Turkey by boat, probably on Sunday.
___
10: 10 a.m.
Hundreds of residents and tourists on the eastern Greek island of Kos have spent the night sleeping outdoors in parks, olive groves or in their cars, a night after a powerful earthquake killed two tourists and injured nearly 500 others across the Aegean Sea region, in Greece and Turkey.
At least two of the injured in Greece are listed in critical condition Saturday and had been airlifted to a hospital on the southern island of Crete.
The U. S. Geological Survey measured the quake, which struck in the early hours of Friday, as being of magnitude 6.7, with Greek and Turkish estimates a fraction lower. Two men, one from Turkey and one from Sweden, were killed when a collapsing wall smashed into a popular a bar on Kos.
Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
