Fact Check

Mike Pence and His 23 Staff Members Die After Airline Accident?

Reports that Mike Pence and his staffers died in an airline accident are fake news that reused a video of 2015 fatal plane crash in Taiwan.

Published March 14, 2017

 (Gino Santa Maria / Shutterstock.com)
Image Via Gino Santa Maria / Shutterstock.com
Claim:
Mike Pence and 23 staff members were killed in a plane crash.

On 10 March 2017, the fake news web site True Trumpers published an article consisting solely of the clickbait headline "Mike Pence and His 23 Staff Members Die After Airline Accident" and a video purportedly showing the fatal plane crash:

NEWS!! JUST IN: Mike Pence and his 23 staff members die after airline accident. (VIDEO)

Vice President Mike Pence and 23 members of his staff were not killed in an airliner crash, and the accompanying video had nothing to do with the current vice president or his staff.

The video was taken in 2015 and captures a TransAsia plane that crashed into a river in Taiwan, an accident that left 43 people dead:

TransAsia Airways Flight 235 crashed soon after takeoff from a Taiwan airport because the pilot failed to identify and respond properly to an engine problem, according to a crash investigation report.

The crash Feb. 4, 2015, killed 43 people and injured 14 others. The aircraft's dramatic fall from the sky was captured on video, which showed the plane swooning across a bridge, where it clipped a taxi before falling into the Keelung River below. The taxi driver also suffered serious injuries, and a passenger had minor injuries.

Sources

Jansen, Bart.   "TransAsia Pilots Blamed for Fatal Taiwan Crash."     USA Today.   30 June 2016.

McKirdy, Euan.   "Dashcam Captures Moment TransAsia Plane Hits Bridge, Crashes in Taipei."     CNN.   4 February 2015.

Dan Evon is a former writer for Snopes.

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