Several Albanian-language portals published an article yesterday (May 12) claiming that an "Air Albania" plane had caught fire.
These portals have made this claim by referring to a video produced by "Report TV".
However, the video footage published by "Report TV" does not say that the plane was engulfed in flames, but rather that it was a device.
Links to the article published on several Albanian-language portals:
https://www.oranews.tv/vendi/merr-flake-nje-avion-i-kompanise-air-albania-ne-rinas-i1088801
https://www.zeri.info/kronika/491551/avioni-i-air-albania-kaplohet-nga-flaka/
After research conducted by hibrid.info, a video material published by "Report TV" on the official YouTube channel was found, which allegedly shows the burning of a device. (see here)
The “Koha.net” portal has published the announcement of the Civil Aviation Authority of Albania (AAC), which has confirmed that there was no fire at the “Mother Teresa” airport on Friday. (see here)
"With the appearance of smoke, the fire service, as provided by the airport and its security regulations, immediately appeared at the scene, but did not act after it was determined that this was a normal process," the CAA statement published by the "Koha.net" portal states.
Analyze:
After verifying the facts, it has been confirmed that several Albanian-language portals have published an article with an incorrect claim that an "Air Albania" plane has caught fire.
However, in the announcement by the Civil Aviation Authority of Albania published on "Koha.net", it is stated that there was no case of fire at the "Mother Teresa" airport in Tirana, but that it was just a normal process.
Based on its work methodology, hibrid.info assesses this article, published in several Albanian-language media outlets, as "Unverified Content".
Reasoning:
The “Unverified” rating is given to those media reports that do not provide sufficient information to confirm the claims made in the report, and which have not been able to confirm the same due to the lack or non-possession of reliable sources.