Report: Tibet quake kills 9

LHASA, China, Oct. 6 (UPI) -- China Tuesday corrected the death toll in an earthquake in Tibet the previous day to nine from "at least 30" that had been previously reported.

The temblor struck a county near the Tibetan capital of Lhasa, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

The report said the earlier reported death toll of at least 30 was based on non-authoritative sources and needed "further check."

The area that was hit worst by Monday's 6.6-magnitude quake was Yangyi Village in Damxung County, the report said.

Rescuers had recovered nine bodies from the rubble and said at least 147 houses in Yangyi and neighboring villages had been destroyed. Another 11 persons were seriously injured, the report said, quoting a local government official.

More than 600 soldiers, police officers, firefighters and traffic and medical experts were being rushed to the scene. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage to the historical buildings or sites including the famed Potala Palace and the Jokhang Temple in Lhasa, Xinhua said.

Another 6.8-magnitude earthquake shook Tibet's neighboring region of Xinjiang Sunday, but there were no casualties.

The Xinjiang earthquake monitoring network said the region also experienced 196 after shocks Monday, including two with a magnitude of over 5.