Norwegian earthquake shakes Shetland Islands in early hours

Parts of a Scottish isle were shaken by an earthquake in the early hours of Monday morning.

The tremor, which measured 5.0, occurred at around 5.30am roughly 200km northwest of Bergen, Norway, and was felt by residents in Shetland and northern Scotland.

According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the earthquake happened 10km beneath the earth’s surface in the Norwegian Sea.

More than 73 members of the public reported the earthquake, which was said to have lasted around two minutes, to the USGS.

Ryan Thomson, who lives in Wadbister, Shetland, said he woke up to something that sounded like a “low flying jet”.

He said: “I initially woke up with the sound which was very similar to a very low flying jet or extremely loud thunder, it wasn’t until I saw the lightshade moving that I clicked that this could be a small earthquake.

“There wasn’t much movement here, I believe other parts of Shetland felt that more, but the noise was extremely loud and quite alarming.

“Earthquakes are of course very rare but not unheard of here in Shetland.

“There was one around five years ago in a similar place, but this was certainly the loudest and most noticeable one I’ve ever experienced in Shetland.”

The British Geological Survey says that there are approximately 200 and 300 earthquakes in the UK each year, and they are usually beneath 3.0 magnitude.