Queen Elizabeth Death Rumor is a Hoax, BBC Reporter Sparks Alarm on Twitter
The Queen Elizabeth death rumor, which started when a BBC reporter tweeted about it recently, was just a hoax. Naturally, the posts about the England's queen's demise sparked alarm not just on Twitter but in all social media platforms, Entertainment Tonight reported.
BBC journalist Ahmen Khawaja initially posted that Her Royal Highness is actually being treated in an medical facility in London.
"BREAKING: Queen Elizabeth is being treated at King Edward 7th Hospital in London. Statement due shortly: @BBCWorld," Khawaja wrote. The message was was sent shortly after 9:30 A.M.,noted the Daily Mail.
The next tweet is a shocker.
"Queen Elizabrth [sic] has died," the next tweet of the BBC reporter said.
Several outlets including CNN and German publication, BILD already announced the news to the surprise of netizens not getting enough information from BBC website itself.
.@BILD saying "Britain is concerned" about Queen in hospital and BBC reporting it - nothing on their website at all pic.twitter.com/AlJ8sm6a8e
— Tom Barfield (@tombarfield) June 3, 2015
CNN just tweeted, then deleted report Queen Elizabeth has been hospitalized pic.twitter.com/9Ox0uIhJge — Jon Passantino (@passantino) June 3, 2015
Later on, the journalist posted messages she eventually deleted along with the previous news on the queen's treatment and death.
"False alarm to the Queen's death. She is being treated at King Edward 7th hospital. Statement due shortly..."
She also posted, "phone left unattended at home. Silly prank, Apologies for upsetting anyone!"
However, these messages actually raised the eyebrows of many readers. What silly prank?
Even the statement from BBC confirms that the reporter's tweet was not brought upon by a "prank" as she reasoned out. It was actually a tweet mistakenly posted while carrying out a network exercise, informed The Guardian. The network also apologized for any trouble the tweets have caused. The tweets were also deleted so that the false rumors will be stopped.
"During a technical rehearsal for an obituary, tweets were mistakenly sent from the account of a BBC journalist saying that a member of the royal family had been taken ill." the spokesman said.
The Buckingham palace stepped in and denied the rumors, saying that the queen is healthy. The palace also confirmed though that the queen was at the hospital mentioned on the tweet for a routine check-up and nothing more serious. The statement also mentioned that the queen has already left the London hospital.
"I can confirm that The Queen this morning attended her annual medical check-up at the King Edward VII Hospital in London. This was a routine, pre- scheduled appointment," a spokesman said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Khawaja will face disciplinary actions especially that she was not part of the obituary exercise. Khawaja just heard the rehearsal and decided to break the news online, The Telegraph reported.
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