An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.9 has struck the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, days after a more powerful tremor hit the same area, the US Geological Survey said.

The epicentre of the quake, which struck just before 0700 GMT on Monday, was about 30km north-east of the town of Santa Catarina Mechoacan. It had a depth of 40m.

On Friday, Mexico escaped major destruction from a magnitude 7.2 earthquake which shook southern and central parts of the country, though 13 people were killed when a helicopter sent to assess the damage crashed.

The epicentre of that quake was not far from the latest one.

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