Many Not Near Pakistan Blast Erroneously Receive Notification Via Facebook Asking If They're OK

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Following a bombing of a park in the Pakistan city of Lahore, many users via Facebook received notifications from the social media site asking if they were OK.

The notifications were the result of Facebook activating its Safety Check function Easter Sunday.

The function, according to Facebook, is designed to be a useful and helpful way to allow people to let their friends and family know if they are OK.

Yet, many, including CBS2/KCAL9 Reporter Joy Benedict, who was nowhere near the crisis, also received a notification.

"We activated Safety Check today in Lahore, Pakistan, after a bombing that took place there. Unfortunately, many people not affected by the crisis received a notification asking if they were okay," a spokesperson for Facebook told CBS Los Angeles in a statement. "We worked to resolve the issue and we apologize to anyone who mistakenly received the notification."

This wasn't the first instance in which Facebook had enabled the feature. Last week, Safety Check was also made available following the attacks in Brussels.

The attacks in Pakistan killed 65 people and wounded over 300 others at Gulshan-e-Iqbal park, according to the Associated Press.