Death toll from Philippine quake rises to 72

The death toll from a magnitude 6.9 earthquake that struck off the central Philippines late on Tuesday has risen to 72, the civil defence agency said.

Another 294 people were injured, the agency said in a report on Thursday. The latest death toll was an increase of three from Wednesday and all fatalities were recorded in the central Visayas region.

The shallow quake struck waters off the central island of Cebu late at night, damaging power lines, bridges and multiple buildings, including a church that was more than 100 years old.

The shallow magnitude 6.9 quake struck late Tuesday off the island’s northern end near Bogo, a city of 90,000 people, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS).

The Cebu quake was the country’s deadliest since at least 2013, when a 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck the neighboring island of Bohol, killing 222 people.

The Philippines sits on the Pacific “Ring of Fire” and experiences more than 800 quakes each year.

The Bogo hospital listed 53 confirmed deaths, 30 of them from Bogo, and 154 injured.

Richard Guion, his left elbow heavily bandaged, recounted how he and his wife, who had a broken foot, were dug from under the collapsed concrete wall of their home by their 17-year-old son, who had been playing outside with his mobile phone when the quake struck.