EgyptAir urges a halt to ‘misleading information’ about missing jet [Updated]
After a flight vanished with 66 people aboard, the airline tweeted details. It was slow, however, to offer condolences to victims, crisis experts say. Is your crisis comms plan up to date?
Yet if your early reaction is not to offer sympathy to the victims’ families but instead to complain about the news coverage, you might take a second look at your crisis communications plan.
After a jet vanished over the Mediterranean with 66 people aboard Thursday, EgyptAir used Twitter and its website to deny “all misleading information published by news websites and on the social media channels regarding the reasons of the disappearance of EGYPTAIR flight MS804.”
Several crisis experts noted that neither channel offered condolences in statements offered in English. Earlier tweets did provide essential details to reporters and contact information for relatives.
Only about 14 hours after its first tweets did EgyptAir offer any concern on its two main channels, saying the airline “sincerely conveys its deepest sorrow to the families and friends of the passengers onboard Flight MS804.” The airline apparently waited for confirmation from the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs that wreckage had been found near Greece’s Karpathos Island.
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