An earthquake of magnitude 6.6 struck Nepal early Wednesday, killing at least six people, destroying multiple houses in the western district of Doti and shaking the Indian capital New Delhi, officials said, Trend reports citing Reuters.
Five other people were seriously injured as eight houses collapsed, said Bhola Bhatta, deputy superintendent of police in Doti, confirming an earlier figure shared by home ministry official Tulsi Rijal. The injured had been rushed to a local hospital, police said.
"Expressing my heartfelt condolences to the families of those who died in the earthquake," Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba wrote on Twitter. "I have instructed the relevant agencies to arrange immediate and proper treatment of the injured and the victims."
Narayan Silwal, a spokesman for the Nepali army, said a ground rescue team has been rushed to the site and two helicopters were on stand by in nearby Surkhet and Nepalgunj towns.
Kalpana Shrestha, a senior bureaucrat of Doti district, said details were being collected from villages near the epicentre and that one child was among those rescued from under the debris.
Nepal's seismological centre set the earthquake at a magnitude of 6.6. The European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) had pegged the earthquake at a magnitude of 5.6.