At least three people died and four more were injured in Indonesia after an earthquake measuring 6.0 magnitude on the Richter scale rocked the Bali Sea early on Thursday, official said.

The sea is located between the islands of Bali and Java. According to the US Geological Survey (USGS), the hypocentre of this tremor was located about 10 km deep and below the ocean floor.

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The quake struck at 49.5 km northeast of Panji in eastern Java and 157 km northwest of Denpasar in Bali.

The victims in East Java’s Sumenep district perished after being crushed by collapsed buildings, national disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said.

“The earthquake happened early Thursday when they were sleeping and the quake suddenly rocked so they didn’t have time to evacuate,” he said, adding that damage caused by the tremor was not widespread.

The strong quake was felt in Denpasar on the holiday island of Bali, where panicked people fled from buildings. Some guests at the hotel in Nusa Dua, south of Bali’s main international airport, briefly fled outside after the strong tremor shook the building.

The tremor comes after a 7.5-magnitude quake and subsequent tsunami struck off the Indonesian island of Sulawesi — around 1,000 kilometres northeast of Situbondo — last month, killing more than 2,000 people.

According to the latest official report, at least 2,045 people died in that disaster and some 5,000 are still missing, possibly trapped under mud and debris.

The Indonesian archipelago is situated within the so-called “Pacific Ring of Fire”, an area known for its intense seismic and volcanic movements, which produce about 7,000 earthquakes each year, most of which are of moderate magnitude.

No tsunami warning was issued for the earthquake.

A string of earthquakes in Lombok in eastern Indonesia killed more than 550 people over the summer.

(With inputs from agencies)