A slight tremor was felt in several parts of Malta early on Wednesday but no damage was reported.

The Civil Protection Department confirmed the tremor, which took place shortly after 3am.

It was centred on a spot some 20km south-west of Malta and measured between 4.3 and 4.5 on the Richter scale.

Several people reported on Facebook that the shaking had woken them up, saying it lasted for about four seconds, many describing the jolt as "scary".

"I felt my house moving. At the same time, I heard a trembling sound... like a thunderbolt in the vicinity of where I live in Santa Lucija. It lasted a few seconds," one reader wrote on Times of Malta's Facebook page. 

The tremor was actually the second near Malta within a few hours. The University of Malta's Seismic Monitoring and Research Group had also reported a smaller tremor close to the south of Malta at 8.23pm on Tuesday with a magnitude of 3.3.

 

 

 

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