6.4 quake kills 3 in China's Xinjiang

A shallow 6.4-magnitude earthquake struck China's far western region of Xinjiang yesterday, the US Geological Survey said, with three people killed according to Chinese officials.

The epicentre was in Pishan county, 164 kilometres northwest of the city of Hotan and 131 kilometres southeast of Shache, known as Yarkand in Uighur, the language of the local mainly Muslim minority.

It was 20 kilometres deep according to USGS, which initially gave the magnitude as 6.1 while Chinese seismologists recorded it at 6.5.

A series of aftershocks followed with the strongest measuring 4.8, it said.

The area is on the edge of the vast Taklamakan desert, but the civil affairs ministry said late yesterday just three people had died, revising down its earlier toll of six.

The state news agency Xinhua said 43 people had been injured and cited officials saying an airport in Hotan had been closed.