The news story by Malayalam daily Mathrubhumi on the number of passengers with COVID-19 in the Karipur air crash is fake, pointed out Malappuram Collector K Gopalakrishnan.
The story that appeared in the newspaper on August 8 claimed that 40 people who travelled in the Air India Express that crashed at the Karipur airport in Malappuram on Friday tested positive for the coronavirus.
Alt News reported that the article is deleted but the tweet remains active.
It says: “Purav Patel, who identifies as a senior special correspondent at News Nation, also claimed that 40 passengers tested positive.”
Alt News checked with the Malappuram collectorate office to confirm the news and was told that it was a fake claim. The District Collector also tweeted about the fake news story on Saturday afternoon.
Posting a picture of the air crash, he put out a logo of fake news, above a caption saying that 40 people in the flight has COVID-19.
#FakeNews #CCJaccident #CalicutAirCrash #AirIndia #KozhikodeAirCrash @CMOKerala pic.twitter.com/Bmuuk9TWdq
— District collector, Malappuram (@CollectorMlpm) August 8, 2020
A little after 3 pm on Saturday, the Kerala Chief Minister's office said that so far only one passenger had tested positive for the coronavirus. All the people in the flight would be subjected to the coronavirus test, including the ones who died. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who reached Malappuram on Saturday morning, also made a plea to those involved in rescue operations to contact the health department or the Disha helpline.
The aircraft, which ran as part of the Vande Bharat Mission of the Union Ministry to repatriate stranded Indians living abroad, crashed at half past seven on Friday evening. The plane hovered for several minutes in the air before plunging down into the tabletop airport and crashing into a wall.
Though rescue operations were soon launched by local people and followed up by government forces, 18 people have lost their lives by Saturday morning. The injured are admitted in various hospitals in Kozhikode and Malappuram districts.
Watch: TNM LIVE with a ground report and the latest on #KeralaPlaneCrash