KOS, Greece (AP) - The Latest on an earthquake that struck Turkey’s Aegean coast and nearby Greek islands (all times local):
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9:00 a.m.
Greek authorities say two tourists killed in an overnight earthquake on the island of Kos are from Turkey and Sweden.
Fire Service rescue chief Stephanos Kolokouris told state television that the two men had been identified but gave no further details.
He said one of the five people seriously injured had been identified as being Greek.
The two tourists died after a wall collapsed onto a bar in the Old Town of the island’s main port, he said. The 6.5-magnitude quake struck about 1:30 a.m. Friday.
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8:00 a.m.
Tens of thousands of tourists spent the night outdoors on the Greek island of Kos after a deadly earthquake struck the region. Among them was Scottish diving instructor Christopher Hackland who described scenes of panic after the quake struck.
“The instant reaction was to get ourselves out of the (hotel) room. There was banging. There was shaking. The light was swinging, banging on the ceiling, crockery falling out of the cupboards, and pans were making noise,” Hackland, from the Scottish capital Edinburgh told the Associated Press.
“There was a lot of screaming and crying and hysterics coming from the hotel. It felt like being at a theme park with one of the illusions, an optical illusion where you feel like you’re upside down.”
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7:00 a.m.
Rescue workers on the quake-hit Greek island of Kos say the damage is confined to the island’s main town.
Fire Service rescue chief Stephanos Kolokouris said that a search of dozens of villages and other sites on the island found no residents trapped in their homes.
“We are operating in the main town, and will remain there,” he said. “We conducted a very extensive search of other areas where people are living and fortunately there was no serious problem.”
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6:00 a.m.
Witnesses on the Greek island of Kos have described the sea “swelling” after an earthquake caused a local tsunami.
Authorities had warned of a small tsunami after the 6.5-magnitude quake hit about 1:30 a.m. Friday.
It flooded a seafront road and parts of the island’s main town. A boat was pushed onto the main road and several cars slammed into each other because of the rising seawaters.
The quake also damaged older buildings in Kos’s main town, killed at least two people and injured more than 120. Bricks and other debris coated streets, and tourists were sleeping outdoors to stay safe during the numerous aftershocks.
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5:40 a.m.
Several tourists are stranded outside their hotel after an earthquake sent them streaming onto Lambi Beach on Kos Island.
Lauren Duffy, a 20-year-old student from Merseyside, a borough in northern England that includes Liverpool, was evacuated along with her mother and sister from the Atlantis Hotel, which was strewn with shattered glass.
She said: “We were asleep in our hotel room when we were woken by really violent shaking, and we all were screaming and told to evacuate from the hotel.”
She said they were able to return to the hotel just long enough to retrieve their passports before they were forced out again by tremors.
Duffy said no one was hurt but the broken glass made the area unsafe. She said most of the stranded tourists there are Dutch, Russian and German.
Kos authorities have reported two deaths and more than 120 injuries on the island after the 6.5-magnitude quake struck about 1:30 a.m. Friday.
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4:40 a.m.
Greek officials say more than 100 people have been injured in a powerful earthquake that shook islands and Turkey’s Aegean coast in the middle of the night.
Giorgos Halkidios, a regional government official for the island of Kos, said an older building there collapsed, hurting people underneath it. He said more than 100 were injured.
At least two deaths were reported on Kos, which appeared to be the worst-hit area and was nearest to the epicenter of the quake Greek officials measured at 6.5 magnitude.
The quake about 1:30 a.m. Friday was centered between Bodrum, Turkey, and Kos and was followed by several aftershocks.
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4:20 a.m.
Rescuers are checking for trapped people inside houses on the Greek island of Kos after a powerful earthquake struck the area at night.
Authorities have confirmed two deaths and say about 30 people are injured. The epicenter of the 6.7-magnitude quake early Friday morning was between Kos and Bodrum, Turkey.
Kos Mayor Giorgos Kyritsis told local state radio the main town sustained damage but the rest of the island appeared to have no problems. “The buildings affected were mostly old and were built before the earthquake building codes were introduced.”
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3:40 a.m.
Authorities say two people have been killed and a number have been injured in a powerful earthquake that rattled Greek islands and Turkey’s Aegean coast.
Kos Mayor Giorgos Kyritsis told state-run Greek media that buildings on the island sustained structural damage in the quake that struck early Friday morning. He didn’t give further details on the deaths and injuries.
The coast guard also announced the island’s port was damaged in the quake and that a ferry en route there was not docking.
The fire department separately said three injured people had been rescued from rubble on Kos.
The 6.7-magnitude quake was centered 6 miles (10 kilometers) south of Bodrum, Turkey, and 10 miles (16 kilometers) east-northeast of Kos about 1:30 a.m. Two strong aftershocks followed
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