A tsunami warning has been issued in Italy following 12 earthquakes off the coast of Sicily.

The tremors occurred close to Palermo, with the strongest registering a magnitude of 5.0 and striking at around 12:19pm local time. The epicentre was in the southern Tyrrhenian Sea north-west of the Aeolian Islands.

Schools have been evacuated in Palermo, the capital of Sicily, as well as in Messina following an orange tsunami alert.

Prior to the 5.0 magnitude quake, a 4.3 magnitude tremor occurred at 11:51am with a depth of 24km. As many as 10 other earthquakes in the area today had a magnitude of at least 3.

Read More: mirror.co.uk