Almost 1,000 people have died after a magnitude 6.1 earthquake hit Afghanistan’s Paktika province early on Wednesday.
Disaster management officials revised the death toll up to at least 950 and said more than 600 others have been injured, with significant damage to property seen across several districts.
The quake struck about 44km (27 miles) from the city of Khost in southeastern Afghanistan at a depth of 51km, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS).
Mohammad Nassim Haqqani, head of the Taliban administration’s natural disaster ministry, said earlier that the majority of deaths were in the province of Paktika.
Rescue workers are arriving at the site by helicopter, reported the state-run Bakhtar news agency.
At least 90 houses have been destroyed and dozens of people are believed to be trapped under the rubble, according to the news agency’s director-general, Abdul Wahid Rayan.
Photos and videos on social media showed people being rescued from the rubble in stretchers.
Tremors from the powerful earthquake were felt across over 500km in areas including Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) has said.
