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Misleading claim alleging high-ranking Military Official on board the tragic chopper surfaces after the Washington plane mishap. Read the Facts
The US witnessed a dreadful incident last night where an American Airlines regional jet collided mid-air with a military helicopter in Washington. Visuals surfaced on social media showed the night sky lit up with what appeared like a massive firework as the plane and the helicopter came crashing down into the Potomac River in Washington. At least 18 bodies have reportedly been recovered from the River till now and the search operation is still underway.
In its aftermath, claims are going viral on social media alleging that there was a very high-ranking Military Official on board the helicopter.
An account with the name Paratropper Brady posted the viral clip of the mishap and wrote: “The Blackhawk apparently did NOT have its transponder on, and was designated as a “PAT” (Priority Air Transport) which means that there was a very high ranking Military Official on board the helicopter. It is unknown how many were on board”
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Moreover, other users posted the same clip and made the similar claim. The preview link can be seen here.
Fact-Check
The DFRAC team investigated this claim and found it to be misleading We performed a keyword search on Google to verify the above viral claim which led us to the latest reports by CNN, ABC Columbia and Independent.co.uk
The reports stated that the US Army Black Hawk helicopter that collided with a passenger aircraft had a crew of three and was not carrying any VIPs, according to a US defence official.
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Conclusion
DFRAC reveals that the viral claim about a high-ranking military official being on board the helicopter has been misleadingly shared on X. In reality, no VIPs were on the military chopper at the time of the tragedy.
Analysis: Misleading