A Turkish Airlines flight from Israel was cancelled on Tuesday before the plane even left the runway following passengers’ terrifying images of the plane crash on their phones.
According to the BBC Captain of the Turkish AnadoluJet flight, the passenger was forced to call off the flight because the passenger was in a panic.
The 737 aircraft carried 160 passengers and was scheduled to depart from Israel to Turkey.
During taxiing, the passengers began to see the pictures that were being sent.
When the pilot notified the crew, the crew decided to reverse course and return to Ben Gurion Airport’s Terminal.
It was reported by the Hebrew Ynet information site that the images were delivered exclusively to iPhones through Apple’s AirDrop service, which permits iPhone users to transfer documents to any iPhone within close proximity.
As per Israeli magazine Kan News, the images contained the image of a Turkish Airlines plane which crashed in the Netherlands in 2009 and a second accident involving an aircraft in the United States in 2013.
The crash of 2009 resulted in the deaths of nine passengers, and in 2013, the Asiana Airlines Flight 214 crash in San Francisco killed three.
One passenger onboard said to Kan News that “most people were contacted for a photograph confirmation through AirDrop. Some people accepted it, while others did not. The plane stopped, and the flight attendants inquired who took the photos.”
Another passenger reported to Israel Hayom, a local Israeli newspaper, that there was panic as one person fell unconscious when the plane started moving. And another suffered anxiety attacks after they saw the circulated images.
After the plane returned to the terminal, the crew and passengers were removed from the aircraft, and their luggage was examined.
Israel Airports Authority spokesman Ofer Lefler said to Kan News that they don’t consider the incident a cyberattack. He claimed that they believed the photos were taken by somebody who was aboard the aircraft.
BBC reports that a group of teenager Israelis were recognized as possible suspects and are currently being investigated.
The flight left five hours behind schedule after it was cleared to take off.