A massive earthquake shook the Greek island of Crete, causing walls to collapse

People rushed to the streets to escape the 5.8 magnitude quake, leaving schools behind

ATHENS: A magnitude 5.8 earthquake shook the southern Greek island of Crete on Monday morning, killing one person and injuring several others.

People who felt the tremors took to the streets, while schools were abandoned. Frequent tremors of the earthquake caused panic in these areas. Villages near its epicenter were damaged, media reports said.

The Athens Geo Dynamic Institute said the quake struck at 9.17am local time. 6.17 Guinness Mean Time, with its epicenter 246 kilometers northwest of the country's capital Athens.

The European-Mediterranean Seismological Center and the US Geological Survey said the quake had a magnitude of 6 and its epicenter was 7 kilometers (4 miles) north of the village of Throtsano.

Greece's Ministry of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection said one person was killed and nine others were injured in the quake, according to local authorities.

Population areas were affected, not by the sea, but by inland earthquakes. Of the nine later tremors in the area, the strongest two were 4.6.

Citizens of the city of Heraklion rushed to the streets to escape the quake. The walls of old stone buildings in villages near the epicenter of the quake in the eastern part of the island collapsed, local media reported.