Villages destroyed as earthquake kills 420

A POWERFUL earthquake hit a mountainous region of south-east Iran yesterday, killing at least 420 people, injuring hundreds and destroying villages, officials said.

The tremor, with a magnitude of 6.4, centred on the town of Zarand, about 440 miles south-east of Tehran and revived painful memories of the devastating quake 14 months ago in the nearby desert city of Bam that killed 31,000 people.

Distraught villagers carried dead bodies wrapped in bloodied blankets and bedsheets and dug with their bare hands in search of friends and relatives.