Teenager dies, several others injured as earthquake rocks Southwestern Turkey

A powerful earthquake measuring 5.8 on the Richter scale shook the Marmaris area in southwestern Turkey in the early hours of Tuesday, leading to the death of a teenage girl and leaving dozens of others injured.

This was confirmed by Turkey’s Interior Minister, Ali Yerlikaya.

According to Turkey’s disaster management agency, AFAD, the earthquake struck at 2:17 am local time (2317 GMT on Monday), with its epicentre located about 10 kilometres off the coast of Marmaris.

The tremor was not only felt in nearby regions of Turkey but also extended to parts of Greece and as far as Egypt.

Interior Minister Yerlikaya shared on social media platform X that a 14-year-old girl died after suffering a panic attack during the quake.

He also mentioned that about 70 people were injured in Mugla province, many of them while trying to flee to safety. “Some of them jumped from a height,” he said.

There were no initial reports of buildings destroyed in residential areas, he said.

“In Fethiye, a 14-year-old girl named Afranur Gunlu was taken to the hospital due to a panic attack, but, unfortunately, despite all interventions, she passed away,” Yerlikaya said.

Fethiyeh lies around 100 kilometres to the east of Marmaris.

Of those injured, 14 were treated at the scene, eight were briefly treated, then discharged, and another 46 were being treated in hospital, he said.

Many popular seaside resorts are located in Mugla province, including Marmaris, Bodrum, and Fethiye, which welcomed 3.7 million foreign visitors in 2024, the Anatolu state news agency said.

The earthquake was also “broadly felt” in Greece’s Dodecanese islands, the national quake protection authority chief Efthymios Lekkas told the enikos.gr news portal, saying some tourists in Rhodes had been forced to evacuate their hotels.

But there were no reports of injuries, he said.

It was also felt in Egypt, according to the National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics.