Huge 7.1 magnitude earthquake strikes off the coast of Tonga sparking a Tsunami threat warning

A 7.1 magnitude earthquake has struck near Tonga, prompting a tsunami warning for the Pacific Island country.

The temblor hit around 100km (62 miles) northeast of the main island early on Monday local time, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).

Germany’s GFZ centre for geosciences had earlier pegged the earthquake at magnitude 6.6.