A powerful earthquake of magnitude 6.7 struck off the southwestern Turkish coast on Friday, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said.

The quake, which struck at 1:31 am (2231 GMT on Thursday), was located off the southwestern coastal city of Marmaris, the USGS said. It was close to the Turkish town of Bodrum and the Greek island of Kos in the Dodecanese Islands archipelago.

The temblor, initially reported as a magnitude 6.9, was very shallow, only 6.2 miles (10 km) below the seabed, the USGS said.

A magnitude 6.7 quake is considered strong and is capable of causing considerable damage, but the effects of this one would have been dampened by seas.

Turkey is prone to earthquakes because it is located between the Arabian plate and Eurasian plate.