At least three people, including two children, died on Wednesday in northern Venezuela in a landslide caused by heavy rains that have affected the country for several weeks, Interior Minister Remigio Ceballos announced.

The landslide, which occurred in the state of La Guaira (North), led to the "collapse" of a house and "the unfortunate loss of the lives of a girl, a boy and their mother, ”detailed Mr. Ceballos on public television overnight from Wednesday to Thursday.

These deaths are in addition to the more than 70 deaths recorded by local authorities in recent weeks following heavy rains in Venezuela, including 54 during the landslide that occurred on October 8 in Las Tejerías in the center-north of the country.

"The cause of these heavy rains is in a system of depressions" which "collides with tropical wave number 47", explained the minister, who had warned the day before against the intensity of the phenomenon.

Wednesday's bad weather also caused a fire, "under control without incident", in the El Palito refinery, in the state of Carabobo (North) where lightning struck a fuel tank.

Overflowing streams and rivers caused flooding in several northern states of the country as well as the coast, and landslides also blocked roads.