Puerto Rico earthquake destroys iconic natural landmark

Punta Ventana, a famed natural stone arch along Puerto Rico’s southern coast, collapsed Monday when a 5.8 magnitude earthquake shook the island, according to the Miami Herald.

The quake struck around 6:30 a.m. and destroyed the arch, which had sustained damage from a series of tremors that began in late December, according to Glidden Lopez, a spokesman for the Guayanilla municipality.

“Today our icon is nothing but a memory,” he wrote in a Facebook post Monday.

The quake also caused several minor landslides and some power outages. No casualties had been reported as of Monday afternoon.

Angel Vazquez, the emergency management director for the city of Ponce on the island’s southern coast, told The Associated Press it was “one of the strongest quakes to date since it started shaking on Dec. 28.”

Denniza Colon, a resident of Guayanilla, told the Miami Herald that the arch was gone when she went to the area Monday morning.

“It was one of the biggest tourism draws of Guayanilla,” she said.