Airdropped Photo of Suicide Vest Causes Flight Evacuation

A JetBlue plane at a New Jersey airport had to be evacuated Saturday morning after flight attendants reportedly received a photo of a suicide vest that was airdropped to their iPhones.

According to NBC New York, JetBlue Flight 573 was preparing to take off from Newark Liberty International Airport to Tampa International Airport at around 7:50 a.m. local time when the incident occurred.

An attendant working the flight received a photo via the airdrop option on the iPhone, which showed a suicide vest. As a result, the crew member notified the captain, who decided the plane should be evacuated.

Around 150 passengers were removed from the JetBlue flight via mobile stairways and waited on the tarmac before being bused back to the gate. The impacted travelers were booked on other flights and continued their journey a short time later.

The police were called to the scene and officers scoured the plane with a bomb-sniffing dog, but nothing dangerous was discovered. All of the luggage from the flight was also removed and rescreened.

Officials from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey are investigating who sent the offending photo.

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