Edward C. Baig

USA TODAY

NEW YORK—Facebook apologized for a bug in its Safety Check alert system after falsely dispatching notifications to see if people were okay following the suicide bombing in Lahore, Pakistan.

The problem: many who received such notifications were in parts of Europe, India, Asia and the U.S., and nowhere near the scene of the attack.

“We hope the people in the area of the bombing find Safety Check a useful and helpful way to let their friends and family know they are okay,” Facebook’s statement read. “Unfortunately, many people not affected by the crisis received a notification asking if they were okay. This kind of bug is counter to our intent. We worked quickly to resolve the issue and we apologize to anyone who mistakenly received the notification.”

At least 70 people were killed and hundreds wounded in the blast, which took place near a park on Easter Sunday.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the launch of Safety Check in Oct., 2014, “as our way of helping our community during natural disasters.” The mission was to give “you an easy and simple way to say you’re safe and check on all your friends and family in one place.”

Safety Check was activated after the recent terror attacks in Paris and Brussels, as well as during natural disasters such as earthquakes.

Facebook activates safety check after Brussels attack

Facebook has taken heat over the system before. In November, after the Paris attack, the company was criticized for not turning on Safety Check after bombings in Beirut. At the time, Zuckerberg acknowledged this criticism, saying, "You are right that there are many other important conflicts in the world. We care about all people equally, and we will work hard to help people suffering in as many of these situations as we can.”

While the Pakistan-related error confused and freaked out some folks, many of the people who commented on Facebook after the company apologized were supportive, even those who erroneously received the Safety Check notification. A user named Amy Leigh Moore wrote that, “I got the same thing and I am in Oklahoma! Just a bit out of the area but I didn't mind. I'm glad you care, FB!.”

Another, Suzanne Hooper wrote, “I received one and live in California ~ PLEASE don't worry about it, ‪Facebook, the fact that you all care and give tools to help find loved ones in the face of an emergency makes a small mistake no big deal!!”

Email: ebaig@usatoday.com; Follow USA TODAY Personal Tech Columnist @edbaig on Twitter