Strong quake shakes Greek island of Crete: officials

ATHENS, Greece (AFP) — A strong 6.1-magnitude undersea earthquake shook the Greek island of Crete on Wednesday and was felt in other parts of the country, officials said.

“It was a major earthquake, the whole island shook but fortunately so far no damage has been reported,” Crete regional governor Stavros Arnaoutakis told state TV ERT.

The Athens Observatory said the quake struck at 9:23 am (0723 GMT) and had a depth of over 70 kilometers (44 miles).

The tremor occurred a day after a 6.4-magnitude earthquake in Albania that has left more than 20 dead and hundreds injured.

Shortly after the Albania tremor, a 5.4-magnitude shock hit Bosnia, the European-Mediterranean Seismological Center reported on Tuesday.

Greece lies on major fault lines and is regularly hit by earthquakes but they rarely cause casualties.

In July 2017, a 6.7-magnitude earthquake killed two people on the island of Kos in the Aegean sea, causing significant damage.

© Agence France-Presse