Human error blamed for 'regrettable' false alarm

LOS ANGELES - An emergency text alert on Saturday warning residents in the US state of Hawaii of an imminent ballistic missile threat was a false alarm sent out due to human error, state officials said.

The United States military's Pacific Command and state authorities confirmed that there was no missile threat.

Governor David Ige said in comments aired on CNN that "I was awakened by the alert like everyone else here in the state of Hawaii. It was unfortunate and regrettable."

Ige apologized for the incident, saying that someone at the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency "pushed the wrong button" during a routine shift change.

Such shift changes occur three times a day every day of the year, he added.

"While I am thankful this morning's alert was a false alarm, the public must have confidence in our emergency alert system. I am working to get to the bottom of this so we can prevent an error of this type in the future." said Ige in a statement.

The alert, sent to mobile phones and also aired on television and radio, caused panic among Hawaiians and on social media platforms.

Sara Donchey, who said she was in Honolulu, Hawaii, tweeted that her family who were on the North Shore "were hiding in the garage. My mom and sister were crying."

Wu Qing, a Chinese scholar working in Hawaii, said in a phone interview that she still felt frightened.

"I was still sleeping when I received the message in the morning. Several of my friends also called me or informed me through WeChat after the missile alert mistake," said Wu.

The emergency alert, which was sent to cellphones statewide just before 8:10 am, said: "BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL."

On the H-3, a major highway north of Honolulu, vehicles sat empty after drivers left them to run to a nearby tunnel after the alert showed up, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported. Workers at a golf club huddled in a kitchen fearing the worst.

Professional golfer Colt Knost, staying at Waikiki Beach during a PGA Tour event, said "everyone was panicking" in the lobby of his hotel.

"Everyone was running around like, 'What do we do?'" he said.

Cherese Carlson, in Honolulu for a class and away from her children, said she called to make sure they were inside after getting the alert.

"I thought, 'Oh my god, this is it. Something bad's about to happen and I could die,'" she said.

The Hawaii Emergency Management Agency tweeted there was no threat about 10 minutes after the initial alert, but that didn't reach people who aren't on the social media platform. A revised alert informing of the "false alarm" didn't reach cellphones until about 40 minutes later.

The incident prompted defense agencies including the Pentagon and the US Pacific Command to issue the same statement, that they had "detected no ballistic missile threat to Hawaii".

The White House said President Donald Trump was briefed on the incident at his private club in Florida.

The US Federal Communications Commission, which has jurisdiction over the emergency alert system, announced it was initiating a full investigation.

Xinhua - Ap - Reuters