Quake injures 700 in southern Iran

A 4.9-magnitude earthquake has left about 700 people injured in the port city of Bandar Abbas and Qeshm island in southern Iran.

Ahmad Rasti, Governor of Bandar Abbas, said the quake struck the city at 2:56 a.m. local time on Wednesday (11:26 p.m. GMT, Tuesday).

Iran sits astride several major faults in the Earth's crust and is prone to frequent quakes.

The worst earthquake to hit the country in recent years devastated the southern city of Bam in December 2003, killing 31,000 people and destroying its ancient mud-brick citadel.