Hawaii sends out missile alert by mistake

People across the US state of Hawaii received a text on Saturday morning, warning of an impending missile strike.

It was declared a false alarm shortly afterwards, but not before panic started to spread.

"Ballistic missile threat inbound to Hawaii. Seek immediate shelter. This is not a drill," read the message, all in capital letters.

Hawaii Emergency Management Agency later confirmed there was no threat.

In an online statement, Honolulu Police Department said: "State Warning Point has issued a Missile Alert in ERROR! There is NO threat to the State of
Hawaii!"
The Honolulu Star said emergency officials had mistakenly sent the message out by text at 08:07 (18:07 GMT) before correcting the error some 20 minutes later. It was unclear how the mistake was
made.
In December, Hawaii tested its nuclear warning siren for the first time since the end of the Cold War.

It came amid a growing threat from North Korea's missile and nuclear programme. Hawaii is the closest state to North Korea.

In September Pyongyang carried out its sixth nuclear test.