MADRID - A magnitude 5.2 quake killed at least 10 people in southern Spain on Wednesday, toppling buildings into the streets and sending panicked residents fleeing.

Ten people perished, officials said, as the quake collapsed fronts of buildings in the southeastern town of Lorca and ripped huge gaps into walls, which slumped into the streets.

Witnesses reported many injuries.

A church clocktower crashed into the street and narrowly missed one television reporter as he conducted an interview in the town on Spanish public broadcaster TVE.

Television images showed shaken families and children gathering in squares and playgrounds in the town, some weeping and hugging as they sought safety. Masonry and rubble blanketed streets.

An apparently dead body lay in the street covered in a rescue blanket, television showed.

A line of parked cars lay crushed under tonnes of rubble, according to photos published in the online edition of El Mundo.

The tremor struck at 6:47 p.m. (1647 GMT) with a depth of 10 kilometers (six miles) and could be felt in the capital Madrid. It hit nearly two hours after a smaller 4.4-magnitude quake.

A doctor said many people had been hurt.

Earthquake damages were concentrated on the towns of Lorca and Totana but also spread as far as Albacete and Velez-Rubio in Almeria, the premier’s office said, confirming 10 dead.       AFP