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Fake news: PIA denies claims its entire crew went missing in Toronto
Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) issued a statement denying social media reports that the entire crew of a flight disappeared in Toronto, Canada.
Indian and Afghan-linked social media accounts claimed that the entire crew, including pilots, surrendered to authorities after landing in Toronto. It was further claimed that Pakistan will no longer operate direct flights to Canada.
An X user, Nasir Amany, who is an Afghan national based in Germany, made the assertion on social media saying, “Today, a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) aircraft landed at Toronto International Airport in Canada. The plane was scheduled to return to Islamabad after a two hour stopover. However, unfortunately, the entire crew of the aircraft, including the pilots, surrendered themselves to the authorities and applied for asylum. As a result, new pilots have been called in for the aircraft, and from now on, Pakistani planes will no longer operate direct flights in Canada.”
The post has 2.8 million views.
Fact Check Pakistan determined these claims are false. There is no evidence that an entire PIA crew sought asylum in Toronto or that flights were halted.
While there have been incidents of individual crew members missing after layovers, there is no evidence that the entire crew including pilots walked off and sought asylum.
The PIA issued a statement that the news is fake and denied reports that the entire crew went missing.
“A tweet, circulated by certain anti-Pakistan quarters, claiming that whole crew of a particular PIA flight is missing, is entirely baseless,” the flag carrier said in a post on X, adding that the purpose was to “malign PIA and Pakistan”.
“There has been no such incident, and the news is fake,” it added.
According to a news report in Dawn, PIA spokesperson issued a separate statement also denying the news, claiming that the information had been circulated by an “Afghan and anti-Pakistan account”.
“The misleading tweet is part of a well-conceived plan based on hostility towards Pakistan and is aimed at damaging the reputation of the national airline and the country,” the spokesperson said, clarifying that the news held no truth.
