The airline excuses to have tweeted your chances of surviving an airplane crash

The Indian subsidiary of the Dutch airline KLM is excused Wednesday for tweeting about the impact of your seat choice on your chances of surviving a plane crash. The initial tweet deleted since we happily stated that "the seats at the back of an airplane are the safest!" before jumping into mortality rates.

"According to data studies by Time, the death rate for seats in the middle of the plane is the highest," the tweet said. m said. "However, the mortality rate for front seats is slightly lower and the lower for seats located in the back third of an airplane."

The "temporal data studies" cited are from the conclusion of a 2015 article that the center's rear seats had the highest survival rate (28%), according to the database. on accidents from 1985 to 2000 of the Federal Aviation Administration. The article also noted that the circumstances of the accident were a much bigger factor than your choice of seat.

The airline removed the tweet about 12 hours after it was posted, according to the Washington Post, and then tweeted an apology.

"We would sincerely apologize for a recent update.This message was based on a publicly available fact about aviation, and is not the opinion of @KLM," he wrote. "We have never intended to hurt anyone's feelings."

In an e-mailed statement, the FAA said the data cited by KLM was questionable.

"Many people have tried and failed to produce a scientifically defensible answer to this question," an FAA spokesman said. "There are too many variables, and that's the important factor – if few accidents – that a simple answer is not possible."

KLM refused to add any other comments.

First published at 5:07 Pacific Time.
Updated at 7:00 am PDT: Adds a KLM answer.