More than 800 dead and some 2,700 injured after earthquake in Afghanistan

(AFP - News updated with latest casualty toll) More than 800 people were killed and some 2.700 were injured in eastern Afghanistan by a magnitude 6 quake, followed by five aftershocks felt hundreds of miles away, officials said Monday.

The epicenter of the quake, which occurred at a depth of only five miles, was located about 17 miles from Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar province, which borders Kunar province, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said.

In Kunar, the impact was much more severe and rescue helicopters sent by the Afghan government were on their way to the area on Monday.

At Jalalabad airport, AFP journalists saw hundreds of security forces loading white shrouds onto helicopters. The defense ministry said it had dispatched 40 flights to bring aid and evacuate the dead and wounded.

The provisional toll tallies 800 dead and 2,500 wounded in Kunar province, as well as 12 dead and 255 wounded in Nangarhar province, government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid announced at a news conference in Kabul.

In 2023 Afghanistan experienced another major earthquake in the city of Herat, bordering Iran, which left more than 1,500 dead and 63,000 homes destroyed.

Afghan authorities warn that the death toll will grow as the search progresses in remote areas and say the damage is "very significant" in Kunar.

"We have never experienced anything like this," Ijaz Ulhaq Yaad, a senior official in the Nourgal district of Kunar province, told AFP.

"It was terrifying, children and women were screaming," he explained by phone.