This archive report was first published on 22 November 2019.
On June 3, a stowaway fell from a Kenya Airways plane as it landed at Heathrow Airport in London. The incident sparked a media frenzy, with various outlets attempting to identify the individual.
However, Sky News has now issued an apology for its reporting on the matter, stating that its initial identification of the stowaway as Nairobi airport worker Paul Manyasi was based on misleading information.
According to a statement from Sky News, the network's Africa correspondent John Sparks had identified Manyasi as the stowaway based on corroborating interviews with people who claimed to be friends, relatives, and colleagues of the man.
But in an interview with a Kenyan newspaper, the man who had initially identified Manyasi as the stowaway has now admitted to misleading Sky News.
As a result, Sky News has apologized for suggesting that the stowaway was an employee of the cleaning company Colnet, which is based at the JKIA airport.
The Kenyan Civil Aviation Authority had previously acknowledged that it was possible that the stowaway was an airport employee, but Sky News no longer has conclusive evidence to support this claim.
Published on November 22, 2019.
