6.9-magnitude earthquake hits Mexico, Guatemala; 3 dead

MEXICO CITY (KABC) -- The U.S. Geological Survey says a magnitude-6.9 earthquake shook a wide area of southern Mexico and Central America on Monday, killing at least three people.

The quake hit at 6:23 a.m. on the Pacific Coast 1 mile north-northeast of Puerto Madero, Mexico, near the Guatemala border. It was initially reported as a magitude-7.1 but later downgraded.

A fire official said at least two people were killed when their walls collapsed in the Guatemalan town of Pati. Another woman in Quetzaltenango died from a heart attack.

But Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina said later that the only confirmed fatality was of a newborn hit by a piece of false ceiling in a San Marcos hospital. He said it wasn't clear if the woman's heart attack was earthquake related.

Officials in the Mexican state of Chiapas reported that two people died there, and at lease a dozen people were injured by falling debris.

Firefighters reported damage in at least 30 homes, as well as landslides and collapsed utility poles. There were power failures in the western part of Guatemala.

Local media reports say shaking was felt strongly across much of the region. In Mexico City, buildings and light posts swayed, but officials had no immediate reports of damage.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.