Ankara, March 8 (IANS) The toll in a 6.0-magnitude earthquake which hit Elazig province of eastern Turkey Monday has risen to 57, media reports said.

Turkish newspaper Hurriyet Daily News cited a local official as saying 57 people had been killed by the quake, which caused the most deaths in six villages around the epicentre in the province's Karakocan town.

The quake, measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale, struck Basyurt region of Karakocan town at a depth of 5 km at 4:32 a.m. local time, said the Istanbul-based Kandilli Observatory and Earthquake Research Institute of Turkey's Bogazici University, Xinhua news agency reported.

Tremors were also felt in neighbouring provinces of Tunceli, Bingol and Diyarbakir.

The institute has so far reported 27 aftershocks and more are expected over the next hours and days.

The Turkish Red Crescent had sent 500 tents and foodstuff to the quake zone, while State Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Cicek and other senior officials had left the capital Ankara for Elazig, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported.

Turkey is a quake-prone country. In 1999, more than 18,000 people were killed in two devastating earthquakes in the country.