Claim: A video circulating on social media shows the scene of the helicopter crash that killed the CEO of Access Bank, Herbert Wigwe, his wife, son, and three other persons on board.
On Friday, February 9, 2024, the chopper crashed in the Mojave Desert near Nipton, California, about 60 miles from Las Vegas, killing all passengers and crew on board.
American officials said “the rainy and wintry weather” may have played a role in the crash. Wigwe was the co-founder and CEO of Access Bank, one of the largest banks in Nigeria and Africa.
However, a viral video on social media platforms shows a small plane crashing into a vehicle on a highway, causing a fire and smoke with a caption that reads “Major National Disaster! Crash site of Access Bank CEO’s helicopter RIP”.
The Explainer Fact Checker took several screen-shots of the video and subjected some of the frames to a Google reverse image search. The results showed that the video was from the Florida crash and had been reported by NBC News and other media outlets .
Findings show that the video is not related to the helicopter crash that killed Wigwe and his family. The video is from a different incident that occurred on February 10, 2024, when a business jet that had lost its engines crashed into a vehicle as it made an emergency landing on a highway near Naples, Florida.
The plane had taken off from an airport at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, about 1 p.m. It was scheduled to land in Naples around the time of the crash, killing two persons and injuring three others in the crash, according to Naples Airport Authority spokesperson, Robin King.
Moreover, the video shows a broad daylight scene, while the helicopter crash that killed Wigwe and his family occurred around 10 p.m., which means it was dark. The video also shows a small plane, not a helicopter, crashing into a vehicle, not a desert.
Verdict: False.
The video is from a different incident that involved a business jet crashing into a vehicle on a highway near Naples, Florida, in 2023. The helicopter crash that killed Wigwe and five others occurred in the Mojave Desert near the California-Nevada border on Friday night.
Therefore, the claim that the video shows the helicopter crash that killed Herbert Wigwe and his family is false.
