Large earthquake strikes off the coast of Shetland

A large earthquake has struck in the sea off Shetland with it being felt by people more than 130 miles away from the epicentre.

The 4.4-magnitude tremor was recorded in the northern North Sea, according to the British Geological Survey. It is one of the largest recorded by the BGS in several years.

The epicentre was around 131 miles south east of Lerwick and happened at 1.33pm on Friday.

The quake was at a depth of 5km and was reported to be felt in Lerwick, Kirkwall on Orkney and in Wick and Thurso in Caithness.

It is not known at this stage if it was also felt by oil rigs in the North Sea, but appears likely.

There have been a number of tremors in Scotland in the last few months as the Earth’s crust moves under pressure.

In April another earthquake struck in the sea off Shetland.

A 1.7 magnitude tremor was then recorded 124 miles south east of Lerwick.

The largest known Scottish earthquake occurred near Loch Awe in 1880, with a magnitude of 5.2.

There are roughly 200-300 quakes in Britain every year, but the vast majority are so small that no one notices them. However between 20-30 are more than 2.0 magnitude which can be felt over a wider area.

The most damaging UK earthquake was in the Colchester area in 1884.