A series of strong earthquakes rocked southern Iran yesterday, killing at least five people, injuring over 80 others and flattening dozens of buildings. 

The quakes, including two of magnitude 6.0, struck west of the major port city of Bandar Abbas in Hormozgan province, the US Geological Survey said.

The first rattled an area north of the town of Dezhgan shortly after 2:00 am (2130 GMT), before a 5.7 tremor hit two hours later followed quickly by the second 6.0 magnitude quake, said the USGS.

Hormozgan governor Mehdi Dousti said five people were killed, as cited by the official news agency IRNA.

Ambulances and other vehicles tried to navigate roads covered in debris as shocked residents took to the streets or tried to recover items from their flattened homes.

People also spent the night outdoors in the provincial capital Bandar Abbas, with a population of more than 500,000, located about 100 kilometres east of the epicentre, where long queues formed in front of gas stations, state media reported.

Iran sits astride the boundaries of several major tectonic plates and experiences frequent seismic activity.

The Islamic republic's deadliest quake was a 7.4-magnitude tremor in 1990 that killed 40,000 people in the north, injured 300,000 and left half a million homeless.