The U.S. Geodetic Survey said the quake’s center was 18.13 north latitude and 68.48 west longitude, 86 kilometers in depth and 65 kilometers southeast of Higuey(Close to Punta Cana)

Three women drowned yesterday when a large swell from Sunday’s 5.2 Magnitude quake capsized and sank the boat in which they traveled from Saona Island to Bayahíbe (east), said Emergency Operations Center (COE) assistant director Edwin R. Olivares.

He said the victims Luisa Esther Vicioso, Antonia Perez de Aza and Luisa Milagros Ortiz, residents of La Romana, San Pedro and Samaná, were aboard the boat “Bruno" captained by Jorge Cuevas Sanchez, one Italian and four Russian tourists.

The survivors were rescued by a Navy craft, whose divers recovered the bodies and took them to La Romana.

In Santo Domingo’s Colonial Zone an old house crumbled in the historic Arzobispo Meriño street, which housed an art gallery.