By Evans Kibe
The image is from a June 2020 accident
This Facebook post with a photo purportedly showing a police chopper crash in Marsabit, Kenya on 13 July 2023 is FALSE.
The image depicts remains of what appears to be a chopper. It was accompanied by a text reading: “Chopper crash in Marsabit with 25 police officers on-board. 10 instant fatalities reported. Pole kwa waathiriwa (sorry to the victims).”
By performing a Google reverse image search, Mtaani Radio discovered that the photo was initially posted in June 2020.
According to NTV, the image was captured on 13 June 2020 after a police helicopter encountered mechanical challenges and crashed in Meru County.
News of the crash was covered by local publications such as The Star and The Standard.
The Star quoted former Police Spokesperson Charles Owino who confirmed that the chopper had six persons on board.
Mtaani Radio also performed a keyword search to establish whether any such crash had been reported in July 2023, but did not find any information.
On 13 July 2023, Kenyans.co.ke reported that National Police Service Spokesperson Dr Resila Onyango affirmed that the images are old and that no police chopper had crashed on the said date.
This fact check was published by Mtaani Radio with support from Code for Africa’s PesaCheck and African Fact-CheckingAlliance.