Quake, tsunami hit Indonesia's Sulawesi island, death toll mounts to 48

Over 40 people were killed after tsunami and earthquake hit a small city on Sulawesi island on Friday. 30 were reported dead at an Indonesian hospital, news agency Reuters reported.

The tsunami up to 2 metres (six feet) high struck beaches as dusk fell in Palu, a sleepy but growing tourist resort, and the nearby fishing town of Donggala, closest to the epicentre of the quake 27 km away, officials said.

Officials said aftershocks, communications breakdown and power outages made it hard to coordinate the rescue efforts.

The US Geological Survey put the magnitude of the second quake at a strong 7.5, after first saying it was 7.7.

"Bodies of victims were found in several places because they were hit by the rubble of collapsing buildings or swept by the tsunami ... but we are still collecting data," Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman said on Saturday.

National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman Nugroho declined to give an official death toll, news agency Reuters reported.

The Palu area was hit by a lighter quake earlier on Friday, which destroyed some houses, killed one person and injured at least 10 in the fishing town of Donggala, closest to the epicentre, authorities said.

Indonesia sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire and is regularly hit by earthquakes. Palu and Donggala regions of Indonesia are home to over600,000 people.

A series of earthquakes in July and August killed nearly 500 people on the holiday island of Lombok, hundreds of kilometres southwest of Sulawesi.

(With inputs from agencies)