Plane evacuated after prankster sends suicide vest picture to every iPhone onboard

A plane had to be evacuated after someone AirDropped a picture of a suicide vest to passengers and flight attendants on board.

Every iPhone in the vicinity received the picture, sparking a security threat and forcing the pilots to turn the aircraft back to the gate.

The JetBlue flight 573 from New Jersey to Florida was just about to take off at 7.45am on Saturday morning when one of the cabin crew alerted the captain.

It is still not known who used Apple’s AirDrop feature, which allows users to anonymously transfer files to other iOS devices.

The 150 passengers were then deplaned on the tarmac and re-screened.

Luggage was also taken off the plane so police bomb-sniffing K-9 dogs could carry out their vital checks.

Thomas Desmond, who was on the flight, told NBC News: ‘We pull up to the gate and then we pull away and the captain comes on and says there’s been a security threat.

‘It was nervous when you see Port Authority police officers coming onto your plane and you just have no idea what’s going on.’

The flight was deemed to be safe and eventually took off at 11.27am.

In a statement, JetBlue said the flight was delayed for further security screenings out of an ‘abundance of caution.’