LOC19:10
16:10 GMT
ANKARA, Feb 23 (KUNA) -- Turkish regions straddling the border with Iran have witnessed a series of aftershocks since a major quake hit West Iran and frontier areas killing nine people in the eastern Turkish town of Van.
The Turkish emergency authority said in a statement on Sunday the region of Bashkala and Serai in Van were affected with the 5.9 degree earthquake that hit the western Iranian province of Azerbaijan.
Rescuers are combing the stricken Turkish areas in search for survivors who might have been trapped under heaps of rubble.
Turkish Minister of Health Fahrettin Koca confirmed in a statement that that quake killed nine Turks and wounded 37 in Wan. (end)
rs.rk