Video of an aircraft hijacking drill in Mexico shared as real on social media - Alt News
Jignesh Patel
22nd October 2019 / 5:31 pm
A video of an aircraft supposedly hijacked in Mexico has gone viral on Twitter. In the video, several masked, armed men can be seen roaming inside the plane while the passengers have their arms above their seats. Twitter user Primo posted the video with the message, “A plane got hijacked with passengers in Mexico hope everyone is safe”. It has garnered more than 34,000 retweets so far.
A plane got hijacked with passengers in Mexico hope everyone is safe pic.twitter.com/IHhN43epZC
— Primo (@TheNames_JH) October 18, 2019
One more user tweeted the video with an identical claim.
A plane got hijacked with passengers in Mexico 😨 pic.twitter.com/iKz839rkCx
— Els 🐝 (@ELSXB_) October 19, 2019
Alt News found that this video depicts a ‘real-scale aircraft hijacking simulation’, in other words, a drill. By looking at the comments below the video, we found an article published by a Mexican news site Vanguardia. According to the report, the drill was conducted in an Interjet airline at Mexico’s Ciudad del Carmen International Airport.
Earlier in October, Interjet had also put out a statement in which they said that an aircraft of their company participated in a ‘real-scale simulation’ held at the airport on October 5.
#InterjetInforma pic.twitter.com/yiY37f6vQA
— Interjet (@interjet) October 7, 2019
“Authorities from the three levels of government coordinated to implement the protocols for passenger rescue. In this way, the videos that circulate in social networks and where an Interjet plane is observed were recorded during this drill”, reads the statement issued by the airline on October 7, 2019.
The Mirror UK reported that the airline was forced to release a statement saying videos circulating on social media of a ‘hijacking’ on one of its flights was actually a drill. The drill video was also reported by Mexican News channel Imagen Televisión.
Hombres encapuchados y armados secuestrando un avión, así fue el simulacro a escala real que realizó #Interjet en el aeropuerto de la Ciudad del Carmen, #Campeche pic.twitter.com/a1oMeebvOa
— Ciro Gómez Leyva (@CiroGomezL) October 8, 2019
Airport operator Aeropuertos y Servicios Auxiliares, or ASA, a federal government-owned corporation, issued a clarification about the video when it went viral earlier in October. The authorities thanked Interjet and its CEO William Shaw for “the facilities and great support granted for the real-scale simulation: Aircraft hijacking”. On October 7, Shaw tweeted about a meeting where results of the drill conducted by the airport of Ciudad del Carmen in coordination with ASA were analysed.
.@AeropuertosASA agradece a @interjet y a su CEO @wnashaw las facilidades y apoyo otorgado para la realización del Simulacro a escala real “Secuestro de Aeronave”, el pasado 5 de octubre en el Aeropuerto Internacional de Ciudad del Carmen, #RedASA #Seguridad #Compromiso #Calidad pic.twitter.com/QH6OHUZVAb
— Aeropuertos de ASA (@AeropuertosASA) October 7, 2019
In conclusion, a video of drill conducted in an aeroplane in Mexico was falsely shared with the claim that it was actually hijacked.
Jignesh is a writer and researcher at Alt News. He has a knack for visual investigation with a major interest in fact-checking videos and images. He has completed his Masters in Journalism from Gujarat University.
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