PETRINJA, (Croatia): A powerful earthquake killed at least six people as it tore down buildings in central Croatia on Tuesday, leaving a town near the epicentre without electricity as rescuers combed toppled roofs and rubble in the dark.

The tremors were felt as far afield as Vienna while the damage was concentrated in and around Petrinja, a town some 50 kilometres (30 miles) south of Croatia's capital Zagreb.

Among the dead were a young girl in Petrinja and five people in a nearby village, Croatian police said.

As rescue teams shovelled away bricks and other debris, some elderly residents gathered in a park in downtown Petrinja, wrapped in blankets and afraid to return home. "All the tiles in the bathroom are broken, all the dishes fell out", Marica Pavlovic, a 72-year-old retired meat factory worker, told AFP of the damage to her home.

"Even if we wanted to, we can't go back in, there is no electricity."

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