COTU Secretary-General Francis Atwoli has dismissed social media reports claiming that he narrowly escaped the helicopter crash in Samburu County that killed all seven people on board.
Atwoli said the reports were false and clarified that he was not part of the ill-fated flight that crashed near Mt Ololokwe on Wednesday.
In a statement, the veteran trade unionist urged the public to ignore what he described as fabricated stories circulating online.
“Please disregard all these lazy and fake stories from these social media addicts, idle doomscrollers, and master spreaders of misinformation and fake news,” Atwoli said.
The claims circulating on social media alleged that Atwoli had invited Ecuador’s intelligence chief Michele Sensi-Contugi to Kenya and was initially expected to accompany the group on the flight before changing his plans at the last minute.
Atwoli, however, denied any connection to the flight and rejected the reports as misinformation.
The helicopter crash near Mt Ololokwe left seven people dead, with the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority confirming that the aircraft was a Eurocopter EC130 B4, registration 5Y-GYM.
The Air Accident Investigation Department under the Ministry of Roads and Transport is leading investigations into the circumstances surrounding the crash.
