March 23 (SeeNews) - An earthquake of 5.5 magnitude hit the Croatian capital Zagreb early on Sunday, causing significant damage to buildings and injuring at least 17 people, the authorities said, as the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the country increased.
"We have a combination of two crises that are contradictory," prime minister Andrej Plenkovic said in a statement on Sunday, adding the earthquake was the strongest one to hit Croatia in the past 140 years.
"The coronavirus epidemic is serious and we have reached 254 infected. This is a significant increase since this morning," Plenkovic said, referring to the 19 newly reported coronavirus cases during the day.
The civil protection unit at Croatia's ministry of interior said in a separate statement on Sunday that 17 people were injured in the quake.
State broadcaster HRT reported that one of the injured was in a critical condition. Some 60 people who remained homeless were temporarily accommodated at Zagreb's Cvjetno Naselje student dormitory, the report said.