At least 56 persons were confirmed dead after a powerful earthquake hit Indonesia’s Sulawesi island.

The 6.2-magnitude quake struck in the early hours of Friday, causing panic among residents of the island, a report by Agence France-Presse.

The quake’s epicentre was 36 kilometres (22 miles) south of Mamuju and it had a relatively shallow depth of 18 kilometres, the report added.

Aside from several fatalities, hospitals were also overwhelmed with injured persons, the report said.

Rescuers scrambled to retrieve corpses from beneath crumpled buildings in Mamuju, a city of 110,000 people in West Sulawesi province.

The report added that a hospital was flattened while a mall was also damaged by the quake.

Authorities could not confirm year how many more bodies could be under the debris, or if there were still people trapped in damaged structures more than two days after the earthquake.

The quake left thousands of individuals homeless. Homeless residents were forced to take temporary shelters in makeshift tents that were also lashed by heavy monsoon downpours.

It was reported that earthquake victims were running low on food, blankets, and other essentials as emergency supplies were rushed to the hard-hit region.

Authorities were also worried about an outbreak of COVID-19 in the crowded evacuation areas, forcing them to separate high- and lower-risk groups. (CC)