Seven people were injured on Monday in an undersea earthquake that hit the Aeolian island of Lipari in Italy’s Sicily and caused several landslides.

The quake, with a magnitude of 4.5, rocked the beach where many people were sunbathing and swimming, making a rock cliff fall off into the water and causing the injuries, according to a report by the Italian news agency ANSA.

The wounded have all been taken to first aid emergency hospitals, while the authorities are assessing the damage from the temblor. Ambulances are now touring the small island while coastguard vessels and two helicopters coming from the Sicilian mainland immediately set off to help the injured.

Roughly 40 sunbathers have been rescued from the affected beach by boats and transported to the port.

Many local inhabitants, for fear of aftershocks, have abandoned their homes while tourists have fled the island in panic. The landslides hitting the inner part of the island and its main city have caused severe damage to some buildings.

The mayor of Lipari, in contact with Italy’s civil protection chief Guido Bertolaso based in Rome, has created a crisis unit to monitor the emergency. Italian Senate speaker Renato Schifani, who was on the island for vacation, is reportedly helping in the coordination of the unit.

The epicenter of the quake was located on the seabed at a depth of 19 km, just six kilometers from the island.

Lipari is a volcanic island and underwater land activity is quite frequent here. The island attracts many tourists from all over the world each summer.