Bolivian TV station duped by Air France hoax footage

by Staff, Brand Republic 23-Jun-09, 09:00

LONDON - A TV news programme in Bolivia has fallen for a hoax leading it to air what it claimed was exclusive footage from the last moments of Air France flight AF447, but was in fact pictures from hit US drama 'Lost'.

Online footage reveals a newsreader for Periodistas Asociados de Televisión (PAT) describing several shots from inside of the Airbus A330, which was flying from Brazil to Paris before disappearing with 228 on board in a storm over the Atlantic Ocean.

The shots "revealed by the station show passengers being sucked out of the back of the plane into midair.

The newsreader claimed that the footage had come from a recovered Casio Z750 digital camera.

The footage shows a man being sucked out of the back of the plane, which is shown several times.

The newsreader claimed the camera had been traced, via the serial number, to the owner who was identified as the well-known children's theatre actor, Paulo G Muller.

The newsreader said: "These two photos were apparently taken by one of the passengers on the airliner the instant before the collision and after the aircraft crashed."

However, the footage clearly shows that the man being sucked out of the back of the plane is flying out into a blue sky even though the plane crashed at night.

The most telling clue that the footage is fake, however, is the presence of 'Lost' actress Evangeline Lilly who plays Kate Austen in the show.

She is seated next to federal marshal Edward Mars played by Fredric Lane.

The Bolivian station was not the only one to be caught out. There ware also reports that Dutch radio station BNR and Polish TV station TVN24 fell for the prank.

The use of images from the ABC produced show 'Lost', which tells the story of the survivors of Oceanic flight 815 on a mysterious Pacific island, have proved to be potent hoax material.

They were also used back in 2006 when a collision caused a Gol Airlines flight to crash in the Amazon jungle.

Comments

Amod Munga - 23/06/2009

And in other news, new positions in the ENG space opened up at no less than 3 public news broadcasters on 2 continents. Industry sources refused to confirm the reasons for these sudden job openings but mutterings of "bloody incompetent bastards" were overheard coming from the general manager's office in each company. :)

Vinicius Comper - 24/06/2009

Ok, there is no doubt that we´re talking about LOST images, but let´s have a look at 00:45/46 when the stupid announcer says that the camera was found in SERRA DO CACHIMBO \(the site of another plane crash between a Boeing from GOL airlines and a EMBRAER LEGACY private jet). This video is not allusive toflight AF 447.