A flight captain postponed a flight by two hours after passengers received death threats on their phones with terrifying images of skulls.
Some 147 passengers travelling from Rome Fiumicino airport to Alicante, Spain, received a message in Ethiopian Amharic with haunting images.
The messages were sent to passengers via Airdrop, which iPhone users can send messages, photos or videos to other Apply device users nearby.
The message started in English with the words "WAKE UP, WAKE UP, WAKE UP".
One part of the message that was translated by larazon.es chillingly said: "Your family will bleed for your actions, you will suffer eternally for your actions."
Terrified passengers raised the alarm and the flight captain halted take-off until the Border Police investigated the alleged threat.
Police found that the sender of the threatening message was an 18-year-old Spaniard, who later admitted to sending them.
Some of the creepy images included a person in a straight jacket and another was of a ghostly-looking monster.
Some of the images included in the message showed a creepy vintage photo of a person in a white straight jacket with a frightful screaming mask.
Another image is that of a chilling ghostly monster.
Flight VY1367 took off two hours later than scheduled, it was reported.
The Mirror contacted Vueling and the Airport of Fiumicino for comment.
Earlier this month, an EasyJet flight was escorted by a Spanish fighter jet after an 18-year-old British holidaymaker allegedly made a bomb threat on board.
The teen is facing a potential bill running into the thousands after he was arrested by police when the Gatwick to Menorca flight touched down and specialist officers and sniffer dogs boarded.
The youngster is believed to have been part of a group of friends who had travelled to the Mediterranean holiday island for a celebration.
The alarm was sounded as the easyJet plane - flight EZY8303 - was close to landing just before 5pm on July 3.
Video footage showed it being escorted by a Spanish Airforce F18 fighter jet before it reached its destination.
A spokesman for the Civil Guard confirmed on July 4: “The Civil Guard has arrested an 18-year-old British national as the alleged author of a crime of public disorder in Mahon in Menorca.
“Yesterday the control tower at Menorca Airport was alerted to a bomb threat on a plane heading from London to the island capital Mahon which was still in the air and nearing the airport.
“The threat was said to have been sent on a social media platform.
“Once the plane landed it was taken to an area away from the main terminal and other aircraft.
“The Civil Guard organised a special operation which consisted of mobilising bomb disposal experts as well as sniffer dogs and other officers who created a safe perimeter around the plane.
“The passengers were disembarked and established protocol followed until police were able to confirm it was a false bomb threat and the person responsible was identified on social media along with five other companions as witnesses.
“They were taken to a police station so officers could clarify the situation.”
