Rodríguez warned that the death toll was expected to rise as rescuers continued searching collapsed buildings and emergency crews reached devastated areas following the magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 earthquakes that struck the capital, Caracas.

She said the state of La Guaira appeared to be the hardest hit and had become a disaster zone.

Rodríguez said the earthquakes damaged Simón Bolívar International Airport near Caracas, the country's main airport, forcing its closure. She added that metro and natural gas services in Caracas had also been suspended.

The Venezuelan authorities declared a state of emergency on Wednesday and suspended school classes for several days after the earthquakes, which were followed by around 20 aftershocks and caused the collapse of several buildings in the capital.

The earthquakes were among the strongest to strike Venezuela in more than a century, prompting evacuations of buildings in cities and affected areas as far away as Brazil's Amazon, around 1,700 kilometres from Caracas.