USA: Hawaii 'ballistic missile threat' alert to phones was false alarm, officials say - by E. Ortiz, P. McCausland and C. Bailey

Hawaiians were thrown into a panic Saturday morning after an emergency alert was sent warning them to "seek immediate shelter" from a ballistic missile threat. But emergency officials took at least 20 minutes to relay it was a false alarm, with the governor's office later clarifying it was caused when someone pushed the wrong button.

The lapse led to an uproar over how such an error — with potentially dangerous consequences — could occur during a time of high international tensions with North Korea.

An alert in all caps was first sent to cellphones across the archipelago shortly after 8 a.m. local time (1 p.m. ET), saying, "Ballistic missile threat inbound to Hawaii. Seek immediate shelter. This is not a drill."

At 8:20 a.m., the state's Emergency Management Agency followed up in a tweet: "NO missile threat to Hawaii." A similar alert was sent to cellphones about 38 minutes after the first.

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, who also tweeted "there is no incoming missile to Hawaii," questioned how the mistake happened and why it took so long before it was corrected, adding that it triggered feelings of terror unnecessarily in a state with more than 1.4 million people.

Read more: Hawaii 'ballistic missile threat' alert to phones was false alarm, officials say - NBC News