Mediterranean earthquake claims young life and injures others

UPDATE Another earthquake was reported underwater and off the coast of Adra. According to the website earthquake-report.com, this one measured 4.9 on the Richter scale and occurred at 5.25pm on Sunday January 31. Some vibration was felt in towns along the coast as it was closer to mainland Spain than those earlier in the previous week even though it was of lesser magnitude.

A CHILD from Moroccan earthquake town Al Hoceima is the first reported fatality from the second earthquake to hit the coastal city in less than a week.

The boy, aged 12, is said to have died of a panic-induced heart attack that occurred as the tremor hit, on the morning of January 25. 

Civil Protection officers from Al Hoceima confirmed that the boy died shortly after arriving at the accident and emergency ward of the city´s hospital. 

A 35-year-old man from the same city was also injured in the 6.2-magnitude quake when he panicked and jumped out of the second floor window of an apartment block. The Al Hoceima resident had become scared on recalling the carnage caused by the 2004 earthquake which killed more than 600 people. 

Institutions within Al Hoceima are now said to be operating as normal, but reports suggest that some 200 households in the Spanish enclave of Melilla have suffered damage to properties, with images released showing fallen debris from buildings there. Power shortages have also affected many areas of the North African city and schools have been closed for the day while building safety checks are carried out. 

Melilla hospitals are reported to have treated 15 people for minor injuries and local TV footage has shown pyjama-clad and disoriented residents running around the streets in the moments after the earthquake. 

Related News: Second earthquake in a week felt in Malaga area