Plane crash photos sent to passengers halt flight before takeoff, Israel officials say

A Turkish airliner with 160 people on board returned to the gate in Israel after passengers received photos of plane crashes on their phones, aviation officials told news outlets.

The AnadoluJet 737’s pilot decided to cancel takeoff at Ben Gurion Airport on Tuesday, May 10, when passengers told attendants about the photos while taxiing, BBC News reported.

The photos showed “a 2009 crash of a Turkish plane in the Netherlands and a 2013 accident in San Francisco” along with footage from inside the AnadoluJet flight, Bloomberg reported.

The photos appear to have been sent by AirDrop, which allows images to be sent to nearby Apple iPhones, according to the publication.

Nine passengers, all Israeli citizens, were taken off the flight, Haaretz reported. They could face charges of disseminating false information, Israel Airport Authority officials said.

The flight, bound for Istanbul from Tel Aviv, took off after a re-inspection several hours later, BBC News reported. Passengers who wished to rebook their flights were allowed to do so.

This story was originally published May 10, 2022 at 3:52 PM with the headline "Plane crash photos sent to passengers halt flight before takeoff, Israel officials say."