Scrap Plane Causes Panic in Lagos As Rumours Of Crashed Plane Circulate Social Media

The rumour circulating on social media Thursday morning about a plane crash in Lagos is one of the “evils of social media,” the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, said Thursday.

Social media was awash with unconfirmed reports of an aircraft crashing at Igando, a Lagos suburb; with a particular tweet saying that the “plane crashed breaking its two wings.”

Ibrahim Farinloye, NEMA Spokesperson for South-West, debunked the rumour saying that it was a scrap aeroplane being evacuated from the airport. He clarified that the aircraft was at Mangoro and not Igando as was being circulated in social media.

“It was just the scrap of an aircraft that was being evacuated from the airport, the federal government had issued a directive that all scrap aircraft be evacuated from all airports, as well as scrap ships from our waterways,”.

Mr. Farinloye said that the rumour was “one of the evils of social media.”
“The evacuation is usually done at night to forestall this kind of public misinformation by mischief makers. We were there at 11.20 p.m. yesterday,” he added.

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