Air Malaysia Pilot Resurfaces 2 Years After Flight MH370 Disappeared-Fiction!
Summary of eRumor:
The pilot of the Air Malaysia flight MH370 that mysteriously disappeared in March 2014 has reappeared in a hospital in Taiwan, according to viral reports
The Truth:
The pilot of Air Malaysia flight MH370 did not resurface in a hospital in Taiwan nearly two years after the flight mysteriously disappeared.
That rumor was started by the fake news website World News Daily Report in a story that appeared under the headline, “Taiwan: MH370 Pilot Mysteriously Resurfaces Almost 2 Years After His Flight Vanished Over China Sea.” The article (falsely) reports:
Taipei| The pilot of the infamous flight MH370 of Malaysia Airlines that disappeared in March 2013, Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah, has mysteriously reappeared in a Taiwan hospital on Monday, suffering from severe dehydration and some type of amnesia.
The 53-year-old pilot was transported at the Taipei Adventist Hospital by a couple of villagers from a nearby town. They claimed to have found the man while he was lying unconscious on the banks of the Tangshui River.
He finally woke up almost 16 hours after arriving at the hospital, but couldn’t remember his name or how he arrived in Taipei. He was rapidly identified, however, thanks to his fingerprints, instantly attracting a lot of attention from the media and from various Asian governments.
The disappearance of Air Malaysia flight MH370 in March 2014 has become one of the 21st century’s greatest mysteries, so it’s not surprising that the reports of the pilot’s reappearance generated a lot of interest. Within a week of being posted, the story was shared more than 16,000 times on social media.
Taken out of context on social media, many readers assumed that the World News Daily Report story was true — but that’s not the case. The website’s disclaimer states that it’s “not responsible for incorrect or inaccurate information” and acknowledges the “satirical nature” of its articles. In other words, it’s a fake news website.