At least 11 dead after an earthquake struck northern Haiti on Saturday, local officials reported.

A moderate, but close to strong magnitude 5.9 earthquake struck close to the northermost tip of Haiti, leaving 11 people dead, Haitian authorities reported, according to Reuters.

Eddy Jackson Alexis, the Haitian secretary of state in charge of communications, said the death toll was confirmed as of 11 p.m. Saturday, according to The Nouvelliste newspaper.
Earlier, it was reported that the death toll was 10.

The earthquake struck some 12.3 miles (19.9 kilometers), west-northwest of the port of Port-de-Paix, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).

Haitian journalist Frantz Duval reported on Twitter that the earthquake had damaged the facade of a church in Plaisance and caused a house next door to collapse.

Jackson Hilaire, the police chief for the northwest region, reported seven people died in Port-de-Paix, the northern town near the epicenter, while Interior Minister Reynaldo Brunet reported another three people had died further south in the town of Gros-Morne, according to Reuters.