A powerful earthquake of magnitude 6.4 shook Albania shortly before 4 a.m. local time (0300 GMT), the second in about two months to send residents rushing into the streets in the capital Tirana, some holding babies in their arms.
THE QUAKE WAS FELT HUNDREDS OF MILES AWAY
The quake struck 10 km (6 miles) northwest of Shijak, Albania, between the port town of Durres and the capital, at a shallow depth of 10 km, the US Geological Survey said.
Video footage posted on social media showed what appeared to be a collapsed building in Durres, 40 km west of Tirana, on the Adriatic coast. Other footage showed buildings with large cracks and fallen masonry.
Magnitude 6.4 earthquake hits Albania WATCH
Two women were found in the rubble of an apartment building in the northern village of Thumane, and a man died in the town of Kurbin after panicking and jumping out of a building, a Defense Ministry spokeswoman said.
The bodies of three other victims were pulled from the wreckage of two collapsed buildings in Durres, the defense ministry said.
Emergency workers told local media one of those killed was an elderly woman who had managed to save her grandson by cradling him with her body.
A witness described residents fleeing apartment buildings in Tirana, some carrying babies. Power was down in several neighborhoods.
The Defence Ministry had said it was the most powerful quake in Albania in the last 30 years.
