British media Sky News has retracted a recent story on a Kenya Airways plane stowaway saying its Africa Correspondent John Sparks was misled.
In a statement on Thursday evening, the media stated that the report that identified the stowaway who fell from a KQ plane landing gear in London as Paul Manyasi relied on misleading information.
“This was based on corroborating interviews with people who identified as friends, relatives and colleagues of Paul Manyasi – including his father, ” said Sky News.
The developments come hours after Nation established that pictures used by Sky News were those of a man identified as Cedric Shivonje, a remandee at Kamiti Prison.
Sky News had indicated that Paul was an employee of Colnet, a company that offers cleaning services at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).
Read: Sky News Pulls Down KQ Stowaway Story As Man Found In Prison
Both Colnet and the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) denied the reports saying no such employee existed on JKIA register.
Sky News has now apologised to Colnet for claiming that the stowaway was their employee.
“We no longer have conclusive evidence that he worked for cleaning Company Colnet and we apologise for suggesting that the stowaway was their employee, ” added Sky News.
The media has since deleted the story on its website and YouTube account.
In the interview with Nation, Shivonje, charged of defilement, said the photos used in the Sky News story were taken from his Facebook page.
Read Also: I Am Alive, Cedric Isaac Shivonje, The Alleged KQ Stowaway Emerges
“I am alive, as you can see,” said Shivonje.
Shivonje further stated that he is 25-years-old and not 29 as reported by Sky News.
Shivonje’s father who was in the company of the Nation team had earlier dismissed the reports that his son was dead.
The man identified as Isaac Betti was filmed in the British media’s story confirming that the bag and the shoes recovered by London’s Metropolitan Police were owned by his son.
In the Nation story, Betti said the Sky News team gave him Ksh20,000 after the interview. The man couldn’t, however, explain the intention of the journalist when he gave him the money.
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