AT LEAST 20 were killed and dozens injured today when a 5.9 magnitude earthquake struck south-western Pakistan in the early hours.

Rescue operations were under way to reach coalminers trapped underground in the country’s Balochistan province.

The earthquake was felt in at least six towns and cities, with the epicentre believed to be the remote mountainous Harnai district.

Landslides blocked roads hampering rescue efforts. Many of the victims died when roofs and walls of their mud brick houses collapsed.

“We are receiving information that 20 people have been killed due to the earthquake,” Balochistan’s Home Minister Zia Ullah Langau said.

“Our rescue teams have cleared 50 per cent of the roads leading to the Harnai while remaining roads will be cleared in the next two to three hours.”

Six children were among 20 dead, Suhail Anwar Hashmi, the top government official in Harnai district, said, adding that around 200 people had been injured.

Pakistan straddles the boundary where the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates meet, making the country susceptible to earthquakes.

More than 75,000 people were killed and 3.5 million made homeless after a 7.6 magnitude quake in 2015.