A magnitude 5.9 earthquake hit western Iran on Sunday, injuring at least 287 people, hours after two quakes struck Hormozgan province in the south, the official Iranian news agency IRNA reported.



Eight of the injured had been hospitalized and the rest were released after treatment, Houshang Bazvand, governor of the affected province of Kermanshah, told IRNA.

State media said the two earlier earthquakes, with magnitudes of 4.7 and 5.7, had damaged buildings in a few villages in Hormozgan without causing casualties.

The earthquake impacted the province of Kermanshah in western Iran. (CBC) Morteza Salimi, head of rescue at Iran's Red Crescent Society, said damage from the two earlier quakes appeared to be light.

"Reports indicate that some walls have collapsed, but extensive damage has not been reported," Salimi told IRNA.

Iran is crisscrossed by major geological fault lines and has suffered several devastating earthquakes in recent years.

Last November, a magnitude 7.3 earthquake hit the border region of Iran and Iraq, killing at least 620 people and injuring thousands.

