EU offers post-quake help to Greece

The EU is offering emergency equipment, personnel and satellite imagery to help Greece deal with the aftermath of the overnight earthquake.

The bloc's commissioner for humanitarian aid, Christos Stylianides, offered condolences and said "the EU offers its full support" after Friday's quake that killed two people on the island of Kos. The quake, which also struck the shores of nearby Turkey, injured some 200 people.

Stylianides's office is in touch with Greek officials and ready to send equipment and provide satellite images to help civil protection authorities locate potential victims or damage.

Airlifted

Meanwhile, Greek health officials say 13 people have been airlifted to hospitals in Athens and on the islands of Rhodes and Crete following the earthquake.

A spokesman for a state hospital in the Cretan city of Iraklio said they had received four patients, including two people in critical condition, one with a head injury and one who had to have a leg amputated due to injury.

Authorities have not listed the nationalities of those seriously injured, but police officials involved in the operation said that one Norwegian national, one Turk, one Albanian and one Greek were included in the list of airlifted patients. [AP]