CLAIM: Shahzada Dawood, one of many passengers who died in the Titan submersible, was the vice-chairman of the World Financial Discussion board.
AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. A web page on the World Financial Discussion board’s web site listed Dawood as “Vice-Chairman, Engro Company, Dawood Hercules,” referring to his household’s corporations, not the discussion board itself. Dawood was a member of the World Financial Discussion board’s Household Enterprise Neighborhood, however wasn’t an worker, a spokesperson stated.
THE FACTS: Dawood, a outstanding Pakistani businessman, and his son had been among the many four passengers and pilot on board the OceanGate submersible, Titan, which officers now say imploded close to the wreckage of the Titanic.
A day earlier than the U.S. Coast Guard announced the passengers’ destiny, some social media customers shared a web page from the discussion board’s web site, falsely claiming it confirmed Dawood was the group’s chief. The Geneva-based assume tank and occasion organizer — greatest recognized for internet hosting an annual gathering in Davos, Switzerland — is a frequent subject of conspiracy theories.
“What’s the coincidence that the daddy and the son which might be trapped on this contraption proper right here, on this tin can, are a part of a corporation that us People and Canadians all despise?” a person stated in a June 21 Instagram video with greater than 3,000 likes as of Thursday.
“He’s a part of the World Financial Discussion board. He’s additionally the vice chairman of World Financial Discussion board,” he continued, displaying a screenshot of the webpage about Dawood on the World Financial Discussion board web site.
Nonetheless, that’s not what the forum’s page says. It says “Vice-Chairman, Engro Company, Dawood Hercules.”
Engro Company is a Pakistani conglomerate that works in a number of industries, together with vitality and agriculture. It’s owned by Dawood Hercules Corp., his household’s agency.
Yann Zopf, a spokesperson with the World Financial Discussion board, confirmed to The Related Press that Dawood is just not the vice chairman or an worker. Dawood can also be not featured on the WEF leadership page.
Zopf famous that Dawood was a member of the World Financial Discussion board’s Household Enterprise Neighborhood and attended a number of the occasions on this capability. The Household Enterprise Neighborhood connects “outstanding household enterprise leaders worldwide,” in line with its website.
Engro Corp can also be listed as a World Economic Forum partner, which permits companies to take part within the group’s facilities and occasions for networking.
Pages on the WEF web site just like the one that includes Dawood are created for any one who has ever attended a WEF occasion or has written a weblog posted on the positioning, Zopf previously told the AP.
The U.S Coast Guard stated in a news conference on Thursday that the Titan’s implosion possible occurred close to the Titanic shipwreck.
The five others who perished embrace a famend Titanic knowledgeable, a world-record holding adventurer, and Stockton Rush, the CEO of OceanGate and the pilot of the vessel.
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That is a part of AP’s effort to handle broadly shared misinformation, together with work with exterior corporations and organizations so as to add factual context to deceptive content material that’s circulating on-line. Learn more about fact-checking at AP.
