Bureaucrat pushes the "wrong button." Hawaiians are told, 'BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL'.

Jennifer Smith reports for the Daily Mail,

Panic spread through the state of Hawaii on Saturday morning when residents received a phone alert for an 'inbound ballistic missile threat' that was accidentally sent out by Civil Defense but which was not corrected for the best part of an hour.

Scores of confused residents tweeted screenshots of the warnings after receiving the alert at 8.07 local time.

It read: 'BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL'.

A similar message flashed up on local television networks and brought live sports games to a halt.

It was caused by an employee at Civil Defense who 'pushed the wrong buttons' during a shift handover.

The mistake was corrected by government agencies on Twitter 12 minutes later but it took 37 minutes for another phone alert to be issued confirming to residents that it was a false alarm. Some say they never received a second phone alert at all.

By the time it was issued, terrified residents and tourists including basketball legend Magic Johnson flocked to shelters and into their garages in fear of a nuclear attack.

When it became clear that it was a false alarm, their panic turned to fury.

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