At least 61 people have been killed in a magnitude-8.1 earthquake that struck off the southern coast of Mexico late Thursday, the President's Office said.

Reports said hundreds were also injured following the quake that struck at 11:49 p.m. local time. Aftershocks continued to shake the southern region.

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All the deaths were in three neighboring states around the epicenter of the earthquake, about 70 kilometers off the coast, Reuters news agency said, adding 45 people died in Oaxaca, 12 in Chiapas and four in Tabasco.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii issued a tsunami warning, and tsunami waves as high as around 1 meter were recorded early Friday on the coast of the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca.

Japan's weather agency has said quake-induced tsunamis may cause slight sea-level changes on Japan's Pacific coast early Saturday, with no damaging waves expected.

It was the strongest earthquake to hit Mexico since a devastating 1985 temblor that toppled buildings and killed thousands, Reuters reported, quoting Mexico's civil protection agency.