A Las Vegas flight to Hawaii was diverted after a passenger AirDropped a photo suggesting there was a bomb on the plane to other passengers, police say

• A Southwest Airlines flight was diverted after someone on board share a sinister message, police said.

• Police said the passenger shared a photo that appeared to suggest there was a bomb on the plane.

• No explosives were found, and the incident is now being investigated by the FBI, according to local media.

A flight from Las Vegas to Hawaii on Monday was diverted to Oakland after a passenger used Apple’s AirDrop feature to share a photo with other people on board that suggested there was a bomb on the plane, according to police.

Alameda County Sheriff’s Office received a tip at around 11 a.m. on Monday that somebody on Southwest Airlines Flight 3316 had shared the image with other passengers, Lt. Tya Modeste told The Mercury News.

The plane was diverted about 1 hour 50 minutes into the flight, eventually landing at Metro Oakland International at around 12:49 p.m., data from the flight-tracking website FlightAware shows.

Alameda County deputies met the plane to help evacuate passengers, according to The Mercury News.

Modeste told the news outlet that bomb-sniffing dogs were brought on to search the aircraft and the roughly 300 pieces of luggage, with no explosives found.

No arrests have been made, but the case is being investigated by the Sheriff’s Office and the FBI, according to The Mercury News.

A passenger on the flight, Valerie Maluchnik, shared her experience of the incident in a series of TikTok videos.

One video showed a deputy coming on board to inform passengers that there was a “security incident” that would require them to exit the plane with their phones, IDs, and boarding passes.

Later videos show passengers deplaning and waiting in the airport terminal.

Maluchnik said in one post that all passengers’ bags were searched to make sure the plane was safe, including the elderly and “moms with infants.”

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She said she appreciated the thoroughness of the search, adding: “The bomb threat may have been a joke, but what if it wasn’t?”

In a statement provided to Insider, Southwest Airlines said it would defer additional questions to local authorities who met the aircraft.

“Safety is our guiding focus and we’re grateful for patience and understanding during this delayed journey to Hawaii,” the statement added.

Alameda County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI’s San Francisco division did not immediately respond to Insider’s requests for comment.

This isn’t the first time disturbing AirDrop shares have caused disruption to flights.

In February, an American Airlines flight was delayed after a high school student shared a message with other passengers that read: “I have a bomb would like to share a photo.”

And in January a Pegasus Airlines flight was delayed after passengers were AirDropped images of plane crashes.

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