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QUETTA, Pakistan >> The Pakistani army says it evacuated 16 seriously injured people by helicopter from the site of a deadly earthquake near the Iranian border.
There are conflicting reports about the death toll from Tuesday’s magnitude 7.8 earthquake, which was centered in Iran but also hit Pakistan’s southwestern Baluchistan province.
Initially, a Pakistani military official said 34 had died in Pakistan but the head of the paramilitary Frontier Corps in Baluchistan, Maj. Gen. Obaidullah Khattak, later told reporters in the hard-hit Mashkel area that at least 10 people were killed and 30 were injured.
Iranian state TV initially said 40 people were killed in Iran but later revised the figure to one dead and dozens injured.
The Pakistani army said Wednesday that 300 troops were helping with the rescue and relief effort.
