Zimbabwe Plane Crash a Fake
The civil aviation authority in Zimbabwe initially claimed that a Boeing 767 flight was involved in a crash at Harare International Airport on Thursday. Officials said that some of the passengers on the flight were injured, but no one died, while there were no details on which carrier was involved or how the incident happened.
Reporters arrived at the airport and could see smoke blowing from one of the runways while ambulances dashed to the scene. Entrances to the airport were even sealed off and guarded by soldiers, security agents and paramilitary police while military helicopters hovered, an emergency help desk was opened and local hospitals were put on high alert.
However, they seem to have been blowing smoke in order to drill their emergency procedures. They did a great job of that, as families were panicking about relatives that could have possibly been on the flight. The Zimbabwe Civil Aviation Authority didn’t announce that it was all a drill until 90 minutes later.
The revelation was made after the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office issued a statement that the incident was a false alarm. Airlines have criticized the decision to release the misleading information, as many of them had been informed of an accident as well. They have accused airport officials of unnecessarily starting a panic. British airports carry out emergency exercises regularly, but never release misinformation.
Air Zimbabwe’s European manager David Mwenga said that he is concerned the event led to many calls to them, as people were frightened. The carrier operates services between Gatwick and Harare twice a week. No plane was involved at all, but there was a scenario about a Boeing that was hijacked and forced to land, Mwenga added. Other foreign carriers said that the drill was a surprise.