A 6.1-magnitude earthquake struck Turkey’s Balikesir province on Sunday evening, killing one person and injuring at least 29 others. The tremor occurred at 7.53pm local time (5.53pm UK time) and was felt across several provinces, including Istanbul, approximately 200 kilometres from the epicentre.
Turkey’s interior minister, Ali Yerlikaya, confirmed that an 81-year-old woman died after being rescued from rubble in the town of Sindirgi, the epicentre of the quake. He reported that 16 buildings had collapsed, most of them abandoned or unused, and two mosque minarets had also fallen.
Rescue teams worked overnight, with television footage showing emergency workers calling for silence to listen for survivors under the debris.
Turkey’s disaster management authority, AFAD, stated that the earthquake occurred at a depth of 11 kilometres. The German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) recorded it at a magnitude of 6.19 and a depth of 10 kilometres.
Several aftershocks followed, including one measuring 4.6, prompting continued monitoring and response efforts in the affected areas.