The death toll from a powerful earthquake measuring 8.2 on the Richter scale that struck off Mexico's southern coast late Thursday has risen to 32, an official said Friday.

"So far 32 people have been killed, which is a huge loss for us," Oaxaca state governor Alejandro Murat told local media, adding that several houses have been damaged seriously and some areas are still suffering from power outages.

On Friday morning, Murat confirmed 23 people had died in the state of Oaxaca.

Earlier, Luis Puente, national coordinator of Civil Protection of Mexico, said 16 people had been reported dead, 10 of them in Oaxaca.

It was not immediately clear whether the deaths reported by Murat in Oaxaca included those reported by the civil protection department.

Seven people were killed when houses collapsed in the state of Chiapas, Jose Garcia, an official from the state's civil protection department, said earlier.

Another two were killed in the neighboring state of Tabasco, according to local authorities.

The epicenter of the quake is 96 km southwest of the town of Pijijiapan in Chiapas, at a depth of 33 km, according to the United States Geological Survey.

source: xinhua