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Major Caribbean earthquake triggers tsunami alerts

Related Topics: Caribbean

A powerful 7.6-magnitude earthquake has struck the Caribbean Sea triggering tsunami warnings for a number of countries, the US Geological Survey (USGS) has said.

Officials say the earthquake's epicentre is about 20 miles (32.1km) north of Honduras and 130 miles (209.2km) south-west of the Cayman Islands.

A number of tsunami alerts have been issued for the region including the coast of Colombia, Cayman Islands, Costa Rica, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Cuba.

The National Weather Service initially sent out a tsunami advisory for potential hazards for Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands - but this alert was cancelled about 45 minutes after it was issued.