TEL AVIV, ISRAEL — A Turkish Airlines flight from Israel Ben Gurion International Airport was suddenly aborted this afternoon after passengers were sent the old crash photos of the airline just before takeoff.
Passengers were sent wreckage photos of the Turkish Airlines plane that crashed in Amsterdam in 2009 via Airdrop on iPhone. The pilots decided to abort the flight after photos caused panic among the passengers.
It is not yet known who sent the photos, but officials believe it was someone on board the flight. The Anadolujet Boeing 737, the low-cost subsidiary of Turkish Airlines, was moving toward the runway when the incident happened.
Airport security got all 160 passengers and all baggage out of the plane for a detailed security check. There is no confirmation of how many passengers received the wreckage photos.
"All the steps taken are done in cooperation and coordination with the flight's captain, who exhibited great responsibility with his decision to return the plane to the terminal,"
an airport official said.
The incident occurred amid heightened security tensions by the recent terror attacks which killed18 Israelis in the last two months.
