UPDATE 1-Great Atlantic & Pacific Q4 loss widens, shares sink

* Q4 cont ops loss/shr $3.33 vs $1.40 yr ago

* Q4 same-store-sales down 1.3 pct

* Shares down 28 pct

May 12 (Reuters) - Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co Inc (GAP.N) nearly doubled its fourth-quarter loss, weighed down by higher operating and pension-related costs, sending the supermarket chain's shares sliding 28 percent.

For quarter ended Feb. 28, the retail grocer posted a loss from continuing operations of $83.4 million, or $3.33 a share, compared with a loss of $44.6 million, or $1.40 a share, a year ago.

Pension costs in the quarter rose more than four-fold to $28.9 million.

Sales in for the fourth quarter rose slightly to $2.3 billion, from $2.2 billion in the comparable period a year ago.

Sales in stores open for at least a year fell 1.3 percent during the comparable 13-week period.

Shares of the Montvale, New Jersey-based company were trading down $1.79 at $4.90 late Tuesday morning on the New York Stock Exchange. (Reporting by Sumedha Mukherjee in Bangalore; Editing by Amitha Rajan)