Story highlights Quake struck 45 kilometers east of PNG

New Zealand ends tsunami warning

(CNN) Tsunami warnings issued after a 7.9 magnitude earthquake struck off Papua New Guinea on Saturday night have been canceled, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center and New Zealand government said.

The quake struck in the ocean about 45 kilometers east of Papua New Guinea's New Ireland island, also known as Latangai, at about 8:51 p.m. (5:51 a.m. ET), the US Geological Survey said.

The extent of damage was not immediately known.

Alun Beck, owner of the Treehouse Village Resort on the island of New Ireland, told CNN he didn't feel anything and was setting up fishing boats to go shark fishing when the earthquake hit. He found out about the quake two hours later via social media and had not heard about major damage.

Hazardous tsunamis were initially possible though about midnight local time along some coasts of that country, as well as the Solomon Islands, Pohnpei, Chuuk, Indonesia, Nauru, Kosrae and Vanuatu, the PTWC said.

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