“Disaster Pictures” postpones a trip from Tel Aviv to Istanbul

A plane that was in the process of taking off at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv turned back Tuesday, after images of airline disasters appeared on passengers’ phones.

The Israeli authorities believe that 9 people sent it to others using the “airdrop” technology for iPhone phones.

Israel Aviation Authority spokesman Ofer Levler said that the incident on the Anadolu Jet flight, which was scheduled to take off to Istanbul, was not a cyber-attack.

The authority said that the nine suspects, who are Israeli passengers, were removed from the flight and could be tried for spreading false information, which carries a maximum prison sentence of 3 years in Israel.
Leffler told Channel 12 television that he was “confident that the police and security authorities will reveal why (the suspects) did this.”

He added that passengers who were concerned about the images informed the flight crew, and that the pilot made the right decision to return to the gate.

One of the passengers, who gave her name only as Diana, told the channel: “A woman went into a fainting spell and another had a panic attack.”

Leffler said the plane took off hours later, after a security check of it, the baggage and those on board.

Airdrop technology, which Leffler said is a way to transfer files, allows iPhone users to send photos to other devices in the vicinity, if they are willing to accept the files.