Violent Guatemala earthquake kills 48

A 7.4-magnitude earthquake has rocked southwestern Guatemala, killing 48 people and injuring another 150, with more suspected victims missing in the wreckage.

The earthquake, which struck Wednesday morning, also rattled nerves in neighbouring Mexico and El Salvador, sparking a tsunami alert on the Salvadoran coast and evacuations from offices, homes and schools as far north as Mexico City.

"We have to lament the death of 48 people, a figure that could rise because we still have 23 missing people," President Otto Perez Molina said in the capital, after visiting the disaster area. He had earlier reported 39 deaths.

Perez said 39 of the victims were in San Marcos department, located at the border with Mexico and some 250 kilometers west of Guatemala City. The nine others were in two regions which are also majority Maya.

In the village of San Cristobal Cucho, an entire family of 10 died when their home was buried in rocks and earth that slid from a hill after the earthquake, Mayor Pedro Cardona said.

"The whole village is in mourning because an entire family was taken by God's nature," he told local television.