Videos of a wingless passenger plane on a busy road have circulated widely on social media in Nigeria, with the claim the plane crash-landed on a road near the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Ikeja, Lagos.
The claim was also published by a few local news platforms in late May 2022.
But what’s the full story?
Authorities debunk the claim
The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), the government agency that manages commercial airports in the country, debunked the claim.
FAAN said in a 24 May Facebook post that the public should “disregard the news making the rounds on social media about an alleged crash at Ikeja Airport. The aircraft was sold by the owner to a buyer, who was taking it to its final destination”.
The Lagos State Emergency Agency also debunked the claim, saying “nothing of such happened”, according to Punch newspaper.
No sign of impact on aircraft
The plane in the video also shows no sign of impact and the wings seem neatly removed.
In a thread of tweets, aviation analyst Daniel Dikio noted it was an Airbus A319, and that the wings were separated cleanly.
“This wouldn't happen in a crash, the separation is a sign of dismantling. There is no damage to the fuselage, almost impossible given the purported circumstances.
“I have reviewed air traffic data and can't find anything unusual. Also, all the active A320 family aircraft in Nigeria are accounted for by my count,” Dikio tweeted.
For publishers: what to do if your post is rated false
A fact-checker has rated your Facebook or Instagram post as “false”, “altered”, “partly false” or “missing context”. This could have serious consequences. What do you do?
Click on our guide for the steps you should follow.
Publishers guideAfrica Check teams up with Facebook
Africa Check is a partner in Meta's third-party fact-checking programme to help stop the spread of false information on social media.
The content we rate as “false” will be downgraded on Facebook and Instagram. This means fewer people will see it.
You can also help identify false information on Facebook. This guide explains how.
Add new comment