Earthquake hits southern Iran, at least 5 dead

At least five people were killed when a strong earthquake shook southern Iran early Saturday.

"Five people have died in the earthquake ... and so far 12 are hospitalized," Mehrdad Hassanzadeh, head of emergency management in Hormozgan Province on Iran's Gulf coast, told state television.

Iranian media put the strength of the quake at 6.1 while the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) and the US Geological Survey (USGS) both put it at 6.0. Small measuring variations like this are common.

The quake was relatively shallow at a depth of roughly 10 kilometers.