The tweets were broadcast during the BBCs rehearsal coverage of a royal death. The first tweets were sent at around 9.30 a.m. (0830 GMT) from the BBC account of reporter Ahmen Khawaja.
The tweet read: “BREAKING: Queen Elizabeth is being treated at King Edward 7th Hospital in London. Statement due shortly.”
According to News,au., Khawaja then tweeted: “Queen Elizabrth (sic) has died,” according to a screen shot published by British media.
Needless to say, but the BBC has apologized for any offense caused by the inaccurate tweets which did raise quite a bit of speculation on social media concerning the Queen’s health and well-being. The tweets were picked up by a number of international news sources, including Germany’s Bild.de and CNN affiliate service CNNNewsource.
The tweets were posted on a day the news corporation was holding a technical rehearsal for its future coverage of the Queens death and obituary. The BBC is saying that the tweets were not supposed to be part of the rehearsal.
Just by coincidence, the Queen was at the hospital today, but just for her annual check-up, strictly routine, is all. Buckingham Palace decided to take the unusual step of announcing the Queen’s visit to the hospital, confirming her routine health check-up after concerns were raised about her well-being.
Khawaja, who is with the BBC’s Urdu-language service, apologized right away for the “false alarm,” deleting the tweets and posting: “Phone left unattended at home. Silly prank, Apologies for upsetting anyone!”