'Wrong button' sparked 38 minutes of panic in Hawaii

ANI  |  Washington D.C. [USA] 

Turns out, it took only one person to push Hawaii's buttons.

revealed that the emergency alert about an incoming "ballistic missile threat", which jolted Hawaiians awake, was a false alarm caused by someone pushing the "wrong button".

"It was a mistake made during a standard procedure at the change over of a shift and an employee pushed the wrong button", Ige told "The warning went out to cell phones, television and radio got the emergency alert".

"Ballistic missile threat inbound to Seek immediate shelter.

This is not a drill", the alert read.

While the message caused concerns on social media, the Office of Emergency Management responded after 38 minutes on Twitter, saying, "NO missile threat to Hawaii".

Ige also issued a statement via Twitter, saying he wanted to "get to the bottom of this so we can prevent an error of this type in the future".

"While I am thankful this morning's alert was a false alarm, the public must have confidence in our emergency alert system", he wrote.

The issued a statement on the false alarm, noting that had been briefed on the incident.

"This was purely a state exercise", the statement added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

First Published: Sun, January 14 2018. 05:30 IST