THE AEGEAN SEA: An undersea earthquake measuring at least 5.9 on the Richter scale was felt in several countries around the Aegean Sea early yesterday, and in Turkey a man died of a heart attack, news agency reports said.
The only known casualty was a 47-year-old man in the southwestern Turkish city of Antalya, who suffered a heart attack during the tremor and subsequently died, according to Anatolia news agency.
The quake was felt along Turkey's Mediterranean coast in the province of Mugla and Antalya, sparking panic among residents, Anatolia reported.
The earthquake, which struck at 6.54 a.m. also shook Crete and woke people up as far away as the Egyptian cities of Alexandria and Cairo, the Egyptian press agency MENA said.
The Athens Observatory gave the intensity of the quake as 5.9 on the Richter scale but a French seismological centre in Strasbourg put it at 6.5 points.
No other victims were reported and the quake did not cause any serious damage to buildings or property, local authorities in Crete reported.
The epicentre of the earthquake was between the Greek islands of Astypalaia and Kos, which lie several miles off Turkey's south-western coast, according to Greek seismological authorities.
The tremor followed an earthquake in Turkey's Aegean province of Manisa on Monday, in which a construction worker lost his life when he fell off scaffolding.