MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Major earthquake east of South Georgia & South Sandwich

Wildlife and scientists are the few inhabitants of those remote islands

A major 6.7-magnitude earthquake struck the southern Atlantic Ocean early on Tuesday east of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, a sparsely populated British territory, according to a US monitor.

The quake struck at 3:55 am (local time) in waters 685 kilometres east of Bristol Island, part of a chain inhabited mainly by scientists on a series of bases, the US Geological Survey (USGS) reported.

The earthquake, about 2,800 kilometres east of the Falkland Islands, occurred at a depth of 10 kilometres, according to USGS.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre issued an alert stating there was no threat of a destructive widespread tsunami, but warned “there is the small possibility of a local or regional tsunami that could affect coasts” near the epicentre.