ANKARA At least 51 people were killed when a powerful earthquake measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale  struck remote villages in eastern Turkey early Monday, a local official said. 

“The number of dead has reached 51,” an official from a crisis desk at the governors office in Elazig province, told AFP by telephone.

The quake struck at 0432 am local time with an epicenter near the Karakocan town in Elazig province, the Istanbul-based Kandilli observatory said on its web site, reports AFP.

The victims perished in six villages located near the epicentre of the tremor in Elazig city, an official said. 

Around 50 people were injured, he added.

Rescuers were trying to pull four people trapped under debris in one of the villages, Elazig Governor Muammer Erol said earlier on CNN Turk television.

The Anatolia news agency quoted the governor of Elazig, Muammer Erol, as saying that they had received reports of casualties in Okcular, but did not give a figure.

The quake was felt in neighbouring provinces and sent the residents of Elazig rushing out on to streets in panic, CNN-Turk said.

Several aftershocks were felt in the region.

Deadly earthquakes are frequent in Turkey, which is crossed by several active fault-lines. Two powerful tremors in the heavily populated northwest claimed about 20,000 lives in August and November 1999.