CARIACO, July 10: A powerful earthquake in eastern Venezuela's tourist region killed at least 59 people and injured another 322, trapping children in the ruins of their collapsed schools, officials said today.

Aftershocks were hampering rescue efforts following the quake which destroyed 186 homes in affected areas, said Ramon Martinez, governor of the worst-hit Sucre province.

The earthquake, measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale struck on Wednesday, levelling two schools and reducing other buildings to rubble in this tiny fishing village, 340 km east of Caracas.

Rescue crews were combing through one school where a large section of concrete collapsed. Some children were believed still trapped.

Most of the deaths were in Cariaco, Casanay and Cumana, capital of the province, but one death was also reported on the resort island of Margarita, according to Radio Neuva Esparta.

Authorities feared the death toll would rise further as rescue operations continued.

In Cumana, seven bodies were pulled from a collapsed six-story building, Martinez told reporters at midnight on Wednesday. Eight people were injured, but around 30 more were still reported missing. ``We assume some of them died and others survived,'' said Martinez.

Rescue crews were apparently using cellular phones to talk with some of the people underneath the rubble and long tubes were being snaked through the twisted structure to pump life-saving oxygen to the survivors.

One fire-fighter who crawled inside a collapsed office-cum-apartment building told reporters he saw five bodies and six survivors, but his information was not used in the death and injury toll. Buildings were also damaged in other coastal cities.

Telephone lines were down in quake-hit areas where authorities announced immediate water rationing. Martinez estimated that more than 500,000 people lacked drinking water in Cumana, Carupano and Margarita island.

Health officials launched a massive vaccination effort to guard against tetanus. The search for survivors was particularly difficult, said Martinez ``because we have many volunteers but few experts in this kind of operation.'' Government officials said international assistance, especially from the United States, would be forthcoming in the next few hours.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.