Big Quake Strikes Venezuelan Coast

A powerful earthquake rattled the northeast coastal region of Venezuela on Wednesday, killing at least 28 people, including students trapped inside a collapsed school building, and injuring 150 others.

The country’s worst earthquake in 30 years - with an initial magnitude of 5.5 - sent thousands of people fleeing homes, restaurants and office buildings, according to a government statement.

At least 15 people in the school in Cariaco, 340 miles east of Caracas, were killed as the building was reduced to rubble, said Francisco Daboin, director of civil defense in Caracas. It was unclear how many of the dead were students.

Five other people were killed and 27 injured when a four-story building owned by a private insurance company crumbled in the nearby city of Cumana, he said. Emergency workers were trying to rescue several people trapped inside.

The quake struck at 3:25 p.m. and was centered near Trinidad. It cut electricity on the Venezuelan resort island of Margarita, and was felt in Barcelona and Puerta la Cruz on the Caribbean coast in Sucre.