A major earthquake of magnitude 6.3 has hit Croatia, causing widespread damage to buildings in a town near the capital Zagreb.
Firefighters rescued a man and a boy trapped in a car buried in rubble in Petrinja and carried them to an ambulance to be taken to hospital.
Streets were littered with fallen bricks and dust and many houses were completely destroyed. There were several reports of injuries and a town official told a regional TV station that a 12-year-old girl had died.
The Croatian military was deployed in Petrinja to help with the rescue operation and the Croatian Red Cross described the situation as “very serious” as it despatched crisis teams to the area.
Prime minister Andrej Plenkovic said he was on the way to the town “after another devastating earthquake, which was felt in many parts of Croatia.”
He added: “We mobilized all available services to help people and clear the destroyed parts. The most important thing now is to save human lives.”
The European Mediterranean Seismological Centre said the quake centred 51km southeast of Zagreb was the largest to hit Croatia this year and the 14th felt in the area in the last 31 hours including a 5.2-magnitude tremor on Monday.
Tomislav Fabijanic, head of emergency medical service in Sisak, a city close to Petrinja, said there were many injured in the region.
“There are fractures, there are concussions and some had to be operated on,” he said.
In Zagreb, people ran out into the streets and parks in fear and there were reports of several leaving the city despite a ban on travel due to the coronavirus outbreak. The tremor was also felt in neighbouring Bosnia and Serbia, and Slovenia’s STA news agency said that the country’s sole nuclear power plant was shut down as a precaution.
In March, an earthquake of magnitude 5.3 hit Zagreb causing one death and injuring 27 people. That was said to be the biggest tremor to hit Zagreb in 140 years.
European Council president said the EU was offering its “full support and assistance”. He tweeted: “We are closely following the situation in Zagreb following the devastating earthquake.
“Our thoughts go out to the injured and frontline workers.”
Additional reporting by agencies
