Strong earthquakes in Venezuela kill 160 people

Two large earthquakes have hit Venezuela.

Officials say that 164 people are dead and hundreds of others are injured.

The first earthquake had a magnitude of 7.2 and occurred on Wednesday evening at 6:04 p.m. and was centred 28.2 km northwest of Montalbán, Venezuela, at a depth of 13 km.

The second earthquake was a magnitude 7.5 and was located 16.2 km southwest of Morón, Venezuela, at a depth of 10 km. That earthquake happened one minute later.

Venezuela is near the Caribbean Plate and the South American Plate, so earthquakes are fairly common along the country's northern coast.