2 dead, 500 hurt as deadly quake rattles Greece, Turkey
KOS, Greece (AP) — A powerful earthquake shook beach resorts Friday in Greece and Turkey, killing two tourists crushed when a building collapsed on a bar in the Greek island of Kos and injuring nearly 500 others across the Aegean Sea region.
Only a few miles apart, Kos and the Turkish resort of Bodrum were hit hours before dawn by the shallow undersea quake that caused a two-foot (0.6-meter) sea swell and havoc among residents and thousands of vacationers at bars and restaurants.
Most of injuries, about 350, occurred in Turkey, in Bodrum and other beach resorts, as people fled buildings and as the sea swell flung cars off the road and pushed boats ashore.
Seismologists said the shallow depth of the quake was to blame for the damage and the sea swell that scattered cars, boats, and trash bins across shores in the east Aegean Sea.
Most people have been cleared to return home, said Greek seismologist Efthymios Lekkas, who led a government inspection team on Kos.