Chile apologises for erroneous tsunami warning following earthquake

Authorities in Chile say they regret spreading panic with a mistaken tsunami warning calling for people to get out of coastal areas following an earthquake in Antarctica.

The nation’s interior ministry said on Twitter a magnitude-7.1 earthquake struck at 8:36pm 216 kilometres north-east of the O’Higgins Chilean scientific base.

It called for coastal regions of Antarctica to be evacuated because of a tsunami risk.

The ministry also sent a message to mobile phones around Chile urging people to abandon coastal areas, though the ministry later said…