Strong earthquake kills 30 near Tibet’s capital with 6.6 magnitude

China’s official Xinhua News Agency says 30 people are dead after an earthquake struck Tibet.

The news agency said Monday a magnitude 6.6 earthquake hit a county near Tibet’s capital, Lhasa.

The U.S. Geological Survey said there were two quakes. The first measured magnitude 6.6 and struck at 4:30 p.m. 50 miles west of Lhasa, more than 1,600 miles away from Beijing.

The second temblor measuring magnitude 5.1 hit about 15 minutes later, some 60 miles west of the Tibetan capital.

-From Associated Press reports