Bolivian TV channel PAT broadcasted extraordinary images of the last moments of Air France flight 447, lost over the Atlantic on 1 June:
According to the report, the snaps were retrieved from a recovered Casio Z750, which was subsequently traced via the serial number to its owner - "Paulo G. Muller, an actor from a well-known children's theatre on the outskirts of Porto Alegre".
In fact, the camera can be traced to ABC Studios and sharp-eyed readers will notice that the photographs feature well-known actress Evangeline Lilly, aka Kate Austen from TV series Lost.
PAT has fallen hook, line and sinker for a hoax email, and to add to its embarrassment, has failed to appreciate that while the flight 447 disaster occurred at night, the images represent the daytime fictional break-up of Oceanic Flight 815
PAT television aired one still showing panicked passengers using oxygen masks, and another showing someone being sucked out of the back of the aircraft as the tail broke away.
The Bolivian newsreader claimed the exclusive images were photos "taken by one of the passengers on the airliner" and had been recovered from the memory of a digital camera.
On discovering the photos had been emailed by a prankster, the TV station was forced to issue a public apology for the blunder.
The news director for PAT television station, Eddy Luis Franco, said: "On Thursday, two photographs were aired on our prime time news report and on Friday we apologised."
According to the report, the snaps were retrieved from a recovered Casio Z750, which was subsequently traced via the serial number to its owner - "Paulo G. Muller, an actor from a well-known children's theatre on the outskirts of Porto Alegre".
In fact, the camera can be traced to ABC Studios and sharp-eyed readers will notice that the photographs feature well-known actress Evangeline Lilly, aka Kate Austen from TV series Lost.
PAT has fallen hook, line and sinker for a hoax email, and to add to its embarrassment, has failed to appreciate that while the flight 447 disaster occurred at night, the images represent the daytime fictional break-up of Oceanic Flight 815
PAT television aired one still showing panicked passengers using oxygen masks, and another showing someone being sucked out of the back of the aircraft as the tail broke away.
The Bolivian newsreader claimed the exclusive images were photos "taken by one of the passengers on the airliner" and had been recovered from the memory of a digital camera.
On discovering the photos had been emailed by a prankster, the TV station was forced to issue a public apology for the blunder.
The news director for PAT television station, Eddy Luis Franco, said: "On Thursday, two photographs were aired on our prime time news report and on Friday we apologised."
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