A strong earthquake hit southwestern Guatemala near the border with Mexico in the early hours of Wednesday, killing two people, officials said.

The 6.9-magnitude quake damaged buildings in the neighbouring southern Mexican state of Chiapas, authorities said, but there were no immediate reports of deaths in Mexico.

The earthquake hit 15 km (10 miles) west-northwest of the city of San Marcos, at around 1:30 a.m. local time (0730 GMT) at a relatively deep 111 km, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) reported.

An aftershock struck around 20 minutes later, the agency added.

According to authorities, power went off in the Guatemalan departments of Retalhuleu, Quetzaltenango and Suchitepequez.

Emergency services reported that a church collapsed in San Sebastian, Retalhuleu, killing one person while Guatemala’s President told a news conference that another person was killed in Quetzaltenango.

The Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said that based on available data, there was no tsunami threat from the quake.