A magnitude 4.5 earthquake rattles an area less than 50 kilometers (30 miles) from Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant near the country’s Gulf coast, a US monitor says.
The quake, which has a depth of 10 kilometers, strikes 17 kilometers south-southeast of Borazjan city at 6:49 am (0319 GMT), the US Geological Survey says on its website.
State news agency IRNA says the earthquake is felt in Bushehr.
There are no reports of any damage to the nuclear facility.
But seven people are injured, including four who were hospitalized, IRNA reports, citing the head of Bushehr’s crisis management centre, Jahangir Dehghani.
“The crisis management team is in the region and assessing the damage” to buildings, he says in the report published hours after the earthquake strikes.
The latest quake comes exactly a fortnight after a magnitude 5.1 earthquake hit the same area, without causing any casualties or major damage.
