Blue Flashes Seen in Night Sky Over Turkiye, Syria Before Monday Earthquakes
12:05 GMT 21.02.2023 (Updated: 12:06 GMT 21.02.2023)
© AFP 2023 / SAMEER AL-DOUMYThis photograph shows a partially damaged building in Antakya, southern Turkey on February 20, 2023, after a 6,4-magnitude second earthquake hit the Hatay province in southern Turkey, in Antakya, on February 20, 2023, two weeks after a 7,8-magnitude one hit the first time the same region
© AFP 2023 / SAMEER AL-DOUMY
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CAIRO (Sputnik) - Social media users publish photos and videos of blue flashes seen in the night sky right before the earthquakes that hit the border region of Syria and Turkiye on Monday.
In photos and videos posted on social media, blue flashes and glow could be seen in the sky, followed by underground tremors. The phenomenon was observed by residents of Syria's Latakia Governorate and border areas of Turkiye.
فديو مرعب
— حسين مرتضى Hussein Mortada (@HoseinMortada) February 20, 2023
ظاهرة الضوء الأزرق في هاتاي تزامناً مع الزلزال أكثر ما يتم تداوله على مواقع التواصل الإجتماعي .#زلزال #تركيا pic.twitter.com/nb3P4Ppane
Hala Hasan, a professor at the Higher Institute of Earthquake Studies & Research at Damascus University, has said that there was no explanation for the blue flashes appearing in the sky but noted that the electrical and magnetic fields of the atmosphere change before the tremors.
الضوء الأزرق الذي شوهد قبل الزلزال بقليل في الساحل السوري وشوهد أيضاً في تركيا ! 😳 pic.twitter.com/jCptRjtdcT
— Screen Mix (@ScreenMix) February 20, 2023
Turkiye's disaster management authority AFAD reported two earthquakes in Hatay Province on Monday, three minutes apart, with magnitudes of 6.4 and 5.8. The Turkish authorities said three people were killed and about 300 others were injured as a result of the earthquakes. Hatay Province Governor Lutfu Savas said several people were under the rubble of houses that had collapsed.