Quake on Iranian island kills one, hurts several

TEHRAN, June 3 (Reuters) An earthquake on an island off Iran's southern coast killed a young girl and injured several other people today, an official said.

The 5.2 magnitude struck at 1045 hrs. The full extent of the damage was not yet known.

''A four-year-old girl has been killed in Ramkan village on Qeshm island and several people were injured (in the village of) Zirang,'' said Hamid Gholampour, an emergency official in the southern province of Hormuzgan.

A spokeswoman for the Red Crescent aid network said rescue teams had been sent to the area.

Ten people were killed when an earthquake measuring 5.9 razed villages on Qeshm in November. The traditional mud-brick dwellings of southern Iran are highly vulnerable to quakes.

Qeshm is the biggest island in the Gulf and is a free-trade zone with a population of about 120,000.

It is famed for its mangroves and its beaches are much loved by tourists and nesting sea-turtles.

REUTERS SHB PC1726