Earthquake hits Turkey holiday region, killing one person and injuring 70 as hotels are shaken

• Were you caught in the earthquake? Email elena.salvoni@mailonline.co.uk 

By ELENA SALVONI and KATHERINE LAWTON

Published: 06:52 BST, 3 June 2025 | Updated: 08:21 BST, 3 June 2025

At least one person is dead after a huge earthquake measuring 5.8 on the Richter scale rocked Turkey this morning.

The natural disaster struck the popular resort town of Marmaris, shaking hotels and forcing people to be evacuated from their rooms as they waited for possible aftershocks.

British tourists described the shock tremor as ‘petrifying’ and reported being thrown from their beds by the force of the quake.

It was so powerful that the shockwaves were felt in Greece, with people awoken from their sleep on the island of Rhodes and holidaymakers at some hotels also being told to evacuate.

Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency said it started in the Mediterranean Sea at 2.17am.

A 14-year-old girl died following a panic attack and some 70 people were hurt in the Mugla province as they rushed to find safety, including ‘some who jumped from a height’, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on X.

‘The quake struck at 2:17 am (2317 GMT on Monday) some 10 kilometres (six miles) off the coast of Marmaris,’ the AFAD disaster agency 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 60 miles to the east of Marmaris.

Video footage of the moment the quake struck shows people running out of restaurants and hotels into the street. 

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A hotel worker in Mugla is seen leaping over the front desk and running outside as the quake struck

CCTV cameras inside a restaurant captured the moment people fled into the street

CCTV footage shows people inside a restaurant sprinting to get outside, with one man seen jumping over the wall

Diners are seen running from their table inside a restaurant in Turkey as the quake struck

Different monitors measured the quake as a 6.0-magnitude tremor

A pair of cats were seen on camera leaping into the air as the powerful quake hit

Residents and tourists rushed to get into the open air, with many seen gathering in parks and the streets in the early hours of the morning to avoid any falling debris.

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.

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

The earthquake struck six miles away from the Marmaris at a depth of 42 miles, experts estimated. Aftershocks of up to magnitude 5 were anticipated.

For many, the tremors will have brought back grim memories of the devastating 2023 earthquake, which claimed over 53,000 lives in Turkey.

The 7.8 magnitude quake laid waste to hundreds of thousands of buildings across the country, and impacted a total of 11 provinces in the south and southeast. 

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Earthquake hits Turkey holiday region, killing one person and injuring 70 as hotels are shaken

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