Powerful quake hits near Antarctica

TOKYO -- A powerful earthquake struck Sunday in the Scotia Sea between South America and Antarctica, Japanese and U.S. officials said.

No tsunami alert was issued by the Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, said Dale Grant, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey's National Earthquake Information Center.

The 6.9-magnitude quake struck at 1:41 a.m. local time, the USGS said.

Japan's Meteorological Agency put the preliminary magnitude at 7.2.

The quake, with a depth of about six miles, was centered in the Scotia Sea, approximately 305 miles southwest of Bristol Island in the South Sandwich island group, the USGS said.