Sky News: We regret our stowaway article was founded on misleading information

British publication Sky News has apologised for using the wrong picture of a stowaway who -- in early July this year -- fell off a KQ plane that was headed to Heathrow Airport in London.

Sky News had identified the stowaway as Paul Manyasi, and even posted his alleged images online.

But, it has now emerged that the pictures the UK publication used were those of Isaac Shivonje, who is currently remanded at the Industrial Area Remand Prison after he failed to raise Ksh200, 000 cash bail in an alleged defilement case against him.

Sky News says it relied on testimonies by Shivonje’s father, who, at the time they were doing their investigation, confirmed the pictures of Shivonje as those of Manyasi, an alleged cleaner at JKIA.

Below is Sky News’s apology posted on their website on Thursday afternoon:

Sky News reported last week on the identity of a stowaway who fell from a Kenya Airways plane as it came into land at Heathrow Airport in June.

The report, from Africa correspondent John Sparks, identified the stowaway as Nairobi airport worker Paul Manyasi.

This was based on corroborating interviews with people who identified as friends, relatives and colleagues of Paul Manyasi - including his father.

In an interview with a Kenyan newspaper, that man has now admitted misleading Sky News.

According to the story in Kenyan newspaper the Daily Nation, his son - named in the report as Shivonje Isaac - is alive and on remand in a Kenyan prison.

Sky News regrets that our reporting was founded on misleading information.

The Kenyan Civil Aviation Authority has previously acknowledged that it was possible that the stowaway was an airport employee.

However, we no longer have conclusive evidence that he worked for the cleaning company Colnet and we apologise to Colnet for suggesting the stowaway was one of their employees.