A powerful earthquake struck southern Iran on Wednesday near Bandar Abbas, site of a major oil refinery, killing at least five people and injuring 26, officials and state media said. The US Geological Service said the quake's magnitude was 6.1 and it struck at 1100 GMT about 53 km west-south-west of Bandar Abbas.
Iran's official IRNA news agency also put the quake at 6.1 on the Richter scale, after earlier Iranian reports had said it could be as high as 7.5.