Malaysian Airlines have slammed a satirical article claiming that one of their flights was forced to make an emergency landing after flying over the Holuhraun eruption, reports RÚV.
On Monday, satirical news site, World News Daily Report, published a fake article claiming that Malaysia Airlines flight MH131 was forced to make an emergency landing in Iceland after the plane’s navigation systems were damaged by heat and debris from the eruption.
The article added that the pilots of the Boeing 777 aircraft were instructed to fly almost directly over the volcano despite warnings from the International Civil Aviation Organisation.
Malaysia Airlines, with no patience for satirism condemned the article’s allegations, and called on the public “not to be fooled by such blatant lies”.
Malaysia Airlines also urged the authorities to block World News Daily Report, and “hold all those responsible for the publication of the article to account”.
In its disclaimer, the World News Daily Report describes itself as “a news and political satire web publication”, and said all its articles are “fiction, and presumably fake news”
Malaysian Airlines is facing a grim economic outlook after two disasters in the span of four months. The company announced losses of $96.5m in the three months ending June and is embarking on its 5th recovery plan in a decade.
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