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U.S. Military’s Pacific Command Says No Ballistic Missile Threat to Hawaii

January 13, 2018

By: Phil Stewart, Richard Cowan and Lesley Wroughton

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military’s Pacific Command said on Saturday there was no ballistic missile threat to Hawaii after a message was mistakenly sent to Hawaii residents’ mobile phones warning them to seek shelter.

A spokesman for the command said it "detected no ballistic missile threat to Hawaii" and that the message warning had been sent in error.

A spokeswoman for U.S. Representative Tulsi Gabbard said she checked with the state agency that issued the alert and was told it was sent in error.

She then tweeted, "HAWAII - THIS IS A FALSE ALARM. THERE IS NO INCOMING MISSILE TO HAWAII. I HAVE CONFIRMED WITH OFFICIALS THERE IS NO INCOMING MISSILE."

Gabbard also tweeted the mistaken alert, which said: "EMERGENCY ALERT BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL."

The Hawaii Emergency Management Agency’s Twitter account also said "NO missile threat to Hawaii."

The incident occurred amid high tensions internationally over North Korea’s development of a ballistic nuclear weapon.

Published under: North Korea