No, a US military transport plane did not crash in Afghanistan on October 4, 2018, killing 11 people

  • This article is more than one year old.
  • Published on October 15, 2018 at 10:40
  • 2 min read
  • By AFP Pakistan

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A report in an online Pakistani newspaper claimed a US military C-130 transport plane crashed in Afghanistan on October 4, 2018. The report copied the exact details of a crash that happened three years earlier in the city of Jalalabad, when 11 people including six American soldiers were killed. NATO told AFP there had been no US military plane crash on October 4 this year.

This online report by the Daily Pakistan news website dated October 4, 2018 is headlined: “11 confirmed dead in US transport plane crash in Afghanistan.”

The report datelined Kabul says: “An American C-130 transport plane has crashed in Afghanistan, killing at least 11 people, a US defense official has said. Among the dead are several US troop members and contracted civilians whose nationalities have not been disclosed.”

“The Taliban has claimed responsibility for shooting down the C-130,” the report said. 

AFP’s Kabul bureau checked the Taliban’s website and WhatsApp messages and could find no record of such a statement. 

Screenshot of CrowdTangle data

Another Pakistan online news portal  also reported the same news with a Moscow dateline on October 4,2018 citing RT -- a Russian news service.

An online search found that both of the stories were word-for-word copies of a report by RT published in 2015 about a plane crash in the city of Jalalabad, in eastern Afghanistan.

The stories have been shared by accounts with more than 500,000 followers, according to CrowdTangle data.

Screenshot of 2015 report

There were no reports of an US C-130 plane crash on October 4, 2018 in Afghanistan, according to a NATO spokesperson.

“No, there was no crash that day. The reports you reference are false,” said LT Jeffrey K. Chin in comments sent to AFP.

The false reports contain a statement by a coalition forces spokesman in Afghanistan US Army Col. Brian Tribus about the crash. 

"A coalition spokesperson US Army Col. Brian Tribus has said the plane crashed shortly after midnight local time (3:30 p.m. ET) at Jalalabad Airport," the Daily Pakistan news website report said. 

Tribus is not currently serving in Afghanistan.

"U.S. Army Col. Brian Tribus, a former coalition spokesperson, is no longer serving in Afghanistan," Sergeant First Class Debra Richardson, a NATO spokesperson told AFP.

"The report asserting an American C-130 transport plane crashed in Afghanistan October 4, 2018 is false," Richardson added.

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