Dozens of earthquakes and aftershocks cause two deaths in Guatemala

Two people died when huge rocks fell on their vehicle in Guatemala, after dozens of earthquakes were recorded in a matter of hours, authorities said.

The two men killed were traveling in a pickup truck on a local road in the department of Escuintla Tuesday when the rocks fell from a hillside onto the vehicle, firefighters said.

More than 37 earthquakes and aftershocks with magnitudes ranging from 3.0 to 5.6 were reported in Guatemala Tuesday afternoon, said Edwin Rodas, director of the National Institute for Seismology, Vulcanology, Meteorology and Hydrology.

The tremors were felt as far away as El Salvador and resulted in the evacuation of buildings, landslides, and minor property damage, authorities said.

Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo said at a press conference Tuesday that the main epicenter of the quakes was in the department of Sacatepéquez, with aftershocks in the regions of Escuintla and Guatemala department.

At least five people were buried by landslides and two of them had already been rescued, he added.

The National Coordinator for Disaster Reduction declared an orange alert, the second highest on the emergency scale.

The US Geological Survey reported a 4.8 magnitude earthquake at 3:11 p.m. local time, 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) southwest of the town of Amatitlán, south of Guatemala City, with a depth of 10 kilometers (6 miles). It then reported another 5.7 magnitude quake 3 kilometers (2 miles) northwest of San Vicente Pacaya, a municipality in Escuintla, in the south-central region of the country. Another 4.8 magnitude quake was reported 6 kilometers (4 miles) northwest of Palín, also in Escuintla.