Karimi said: "We have no exact knowledge of the scale of the damage and the deaths, but the damage is very widespread and the number of victims is very high."

He said earlier: "One thing is sure: the historic quarter of Bam has been completely destroyed and many of our countrymen are in the ruins."

The director of the Iranian Red Crescent, Mehdi Ebna, was quoted by IRNA news agency as saying: "The number of deaths is not yet known but rescue teams have been sent to the region."

Quoting the Tehran University Geophysics Centre the official agency said the quake which occurred at 5:28 am (0158 GMT) in the Bam region of Kerman province measured 6.3 degrees on the Richter scale.

Telephone communications with the towns of Bam, Giroft and Kohnuj had been cut off.

The Strasbourg Observatory in France said the quake was the most powerful in the region since 1998.

Earthquakes are very frequent in Iran. Since 1991 nearly 1,000 tremors have claimed some 17,600 lives and injured 53,000 people, according to official figures.

TERRA.WIRE