Strong quake hits Indonesian island, kills six
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-11-12 11:30

An earthquake measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale shook an island in eastern Indonesia on Friday, killing six people and injuring at least six more, a government official said.

Petrus Demonsili, who works at an earthquake monitoring centre in the city of Kupang on a nearby island, said the earthquake struck the town of Kalabahi on Alor island, 2,000 km (1,200 miles) east of Jakarta at around 5:26 a.m. (2126 GMT Thursday).

"Reports say six have died and at least six are injured," Demonsili told Reuters by phone from the city of Kupang on Timor island.

"Probably, the toll will go up. According to reports, the airport runway there has cracks now and several concrete buildings have collapsed," he said.

Earthquakes often occur in Indonesia, an archipelago of 17,000 islands that lies along the Pacific ring of fire.

The quake was also felt in East Timor but there were no reports of damage so far, a witness said.

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