Nepal Police Arrest Local Reporters for 'Instilling Fear' of New Earthquake

Three local journalists were arrested for spreading false news about the coming of another large earthquake, Nepal police said Wednesday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Three employees of a Nepal news website have been arrested for warning about the likelihood of another large earthquake after Saturday's disaster claimed the lives of some 5,000 people in the country, Nepal police said Wednesday.

"On 28 April 2015, Nepal Police arrested Executive Director, Executive Editor and Desk Editor of online news portal Nepali Headlines for spreading rumor and instilling fear among general public by posting a news on 'threat of impending massive earthquake in Nepal,'" local police said on its official Facebook page.

On Saturday morning Nepal was hit by a 7.9-magnitude earthquake. The quake occurred some 50 miles northwest of the country's capital Kathmandu shifting some 2775 square miles about 10 feet northward over a 30-second duration and triggering deadly avalanches on Mount Everest and surrounding mountainous areas.

The death toll from the earthquake has topped 5,000 in Nepal with many people still missing. On Tuesday the country's prime minister, Sushil Koirala, said that the number of victims could reach 10,000.

Earlier on Wednesday, Nepal authorities reportedly deployed riot police to the main bus station of Kathmandu fearing mass disorder and panic over the lack of buses as thousands flee the disaster-stricken city.