Instagram post falsely claims there was a plane crash at Gatwick Airport
What was claimed
Three people have been killed and 127 injured in a plane crash at Gatwick Airport on Wednesday.
Our verdict
This has not happened.
A post on Instagram has claimed that a plane crash at Gatwick Airport on Wednesday killed three people and injured 127.
This is not the case. There have been no reported plane crashes at Gatwick or any other UK airport in recent days or months.
The post claims this information is from “the English Minister of Health”. The Secretary of State for health and social care, Matt Hancock, has said nothing of the sort.
The post uses an image of an Emirates aircraft which has clearly been edited into a picture of homes in the UK. The composite image does not seem to appear anywhere else online. The account which posted the image, called “Fatal News” has an edited version of the BBC News logo as its display picture.
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You can read more here about how to spot misleading images online.
This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as false because there have been no recent plane crashes at Gatwick Airport.
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