Pakistan earthquake kills 20 in Balochistan province

A powerful earthquake has hit Pakistan's south-western Balochistan province, officials say, killing about 20 people.

The shallow 5.9-magnitude quake shook sleeping residents at around 03:00 local time (22:00 GMT Wednesday), bringing down dozens of mud houses.

Scores of people were injured, most of them in Harnai district, east of the provincial capital, Quetta.

PM Imran Khan has sent condolences and offered aid and compensation.

A number of the dead were reportedly women and children.

The US Geological Survey said the quake had struck at a shallow depth of 9km, making it potentially more damaging.

Rescue operations are under way, and local media reported that military doctors and paramedics had reached the worst-hit areas.

Much of the damage appears to have affected Harnai district, which is about 100km (60 miles) east of Quetta.

Harnai farmer Rafiullah told Agence France-Presse the quake had knocked him unconscious.

"When I regained consciousness, I pulled out two of my sons," he said, but his youngest boy, aged about one, had been struck by a wooden beam and had died.

The area also has a large number of coal mines which are vulnerable to collapse and there are reports at least one was badly affected.

Local officials told BBC Urdu that about 150 people were thought to have been injured, with some rushed to hospital in Quetta in critical condition by army helicopters.

EPA -Injured people in Quetta are taken for treatment

Others were treated on stretchers by medics using phones as torches, Reuters reported.

Hundreds of people have been left homeless following the collapse of the mud houses.

Zaman Shah said: "I am 65 years old, but I haven't experienced this kind of a jolt before. It was so destructive, everyone ran out of their houses praying to God."

Sending his condolences via Twitter, Mr Khan said he had ordered immediate emergency assistance and would provide "timely relief and compensation".

Funerals were already taking place on Thursday in small mountain villages and it is unclear if the death toll could rise further.