Attached to this Facebook post is an image reporting an alleged police chopper crash on July 13, 2023.
Background
Helicopter crashes involving police officers reported in the past have led to the loss of many lives with others left with life-changing injuries. On June 24, 2021, seventeen soldiers died in a helicopter crash. In another incident, a police chopper crashed in Boni Forest on August 15, 2018. On June 10, 2012, a plane carrying then Minister of Internal Security George Saitoti and his deputy Orwa Ojode crashed. None of the passengers on board survived.
Verification
A Google reverse image search on Yandex redirects to a tweet published by Kass FM on July 13, 2020. The post reported a police chopper crash at Kaithe Kithoka, Meru County. The passengers onboard were heading to a joint security meeting in Marsabit County.
A keyword search on Google with the words “police chopper crash in Marsabit” also leads to more articles reporting the Meru accident and bearing the same image published by other local media houses here, here, here, and here.
Verdict
Alleged reports on a police chopper crash in Marsabit on July 13, 2023, are FALSE.
This fact check was published by Piga Firimbi with support from Code for Africa’s PesaCheck and African Fact-Checking Alliance.
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