The number of victims killed and injured by the earthquake continues to increase, the Venezuelan medical team works tirelessly

The ruins of buildings due to the earthquake in Venezuela. (Twitter/@XHNews)

JAKARTA - Venezuelan Health Minister Carlos Alvarado on Thursday confirmed that the number of deaths from a series of earthquakes that devastated the country's northern coast on Wednesday had risen to 235 people, while the number of injured was more than 4,300.

Speaking on state-run television network Venezolana de Televisión (VTV), Alvarado noted that medical teams were working tirelessly.

"In the public health system, we have treated more than 4,300 injured people," Alvarado said, launching Anadolu (26/6).

"Tragically, this includes 235 patients who arrived at our health facilities without signs of life or died shortly after being treated," he said.

Further, Alvarado explained, most of the victims and severe injuries were concentrated in the coastal state of La Guaira. This northern state, which serves as the main maritime and air gateway to Caracas, has the Simon Bolivar International Airport in Maiquetia. The terminal remains closed indefinitely due to extensive structural damage.

To cope with the surge in trauma patients from local clinics, authorities have begun building emergency field hospitals across the coastal region.

The widespread damage came from a rare "twin quake," a phenomenon in which two high-magnitude tectonic events occur almost simultaneously in the same area. On Wednesday afternoon, a 7.2-magnitude precursor quake near San Felipe was followed only 39 seconds later by a 7.5-magnitude main quake southeast of Yumare.

Meanwhile, National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez announced that seismologists had recorded at least 138 aftershocks since the twin earthquakes.

Rodriguez noted that the earthquake damaged at least 346 infrastructure locations, including 250 apartment buildings and 20 shopping centers, mainly in La Guaira.

Structural damage also affected eight regional hospitals, forcing emergency personnel to immediately evacuate patients to alternative clinics.