EMBASSSY RECEIVES APPARENT FALSE REPORT OF PLANE CRASH

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KHARTOUM 000641 DEPT FOR SE GRATION, S/USSES, AF A A/S CARTER, AF/C, CA/OCS/ACS/AF NSC FOR MGAVIN DEPT PLS PASS USAID FOR AFR/SUDAN ADDIS ABABA ALSO FOR USAU CAIRO FOR CHRIS ROWAN SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ASEC PGOV PREL CASC KPKO SOCI AU UNSC SU SUBJECT: EMBASSSY RECEIVES APPARENT FALSE REPORT OF PLANE CRASH ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Embassy Khartoum, in cooperation with CA/OCS/ACS/AF, received an apparently false report of a plane crash initially made to the office of Representative Jay Inslee (D-Wash). Post believes that the report could be part of a larger fraud scheme or hoax. The Department may wish to investigate the report to see why it was made and whether it constitutes a criminal act. END SUMMARY ¶2. (SBU) On Thursday May 7, 2009, at 10:06 PM local-Khartoum time, US Congressman Jay Inslee's office sent an inquiry via E-Mail to the Embassy Khartoum consular section regarding an alleged report of a missing medical plane. The initial information apparently stemmed from an e-mail allegedly sent to Congressman Jay Inslee from an individual claiming to be one of his constituents. The text of the undated e-mail follows: ¶3. (SBU) BEGIN TEXT Name: Bob Miller-Rhees Company : Email: BOB at COATESDESIGN.COM Phone : 206-842-0138 Dear Jay, My daughter Catherine's fiance is with a medical missions team in Africa and their plane disappeared last Friday over the Sudan. The search team started looking yesterday (unsuccessfully) along a strip of 400 miles of jungle. They have requested assistance from the US Embassy. I'm hoping you can lend your voice to encouraging the military to join the search. My daughter Catherine can supply the details (206-842-0138) or you can check with the Sudan Embassy. Thank you! END TEXT ¶4. (SBU) As US Embassy Khartoum operates on a Sunday-Thursday workweek, the consular officer did not read the e-mail until Saturday May 9, when remotely accessing DOS E-mail from home. The consular officer immediately contacted the DCM and canvassed Embassy personnel to ascertain if there had been any reports of a missing plane. No Embassy personnel had received any such information. ¶5. (SBU) At 6:30 PM, the consular officer called the phone number listed in the e-mail and spoke with two individuals who identified themselves as Bob and Catherine Miller-Rhees. They reported that the wreckage of a plane carrying 13 passengers (including Catherine's fianc Rob Bryant) had been located on the morning of May 9, with reportedly no survivors, somewhere between Southern Sudan and Darfur in the western part of the country. They stated the plane was affiliated with "Catholic Medical Missions" and was flying from a base in South Sudan to Darfur to distribute medical supplies. They explained that the plane had disappeared two weeks prior and had likely been carrying other Amcits, including a German and a Canadian citizen. ¶6. (SBU) Neither Bob nor Catherine daughter could provide any other information related to the crash, or contact info for Catholic Medical Missions, besides an E-mail address for an individual whom they claimed was a local Catholic Medical Missions staffer, George Malcolm (georgemalcolm96 at yahoo.com). E-mails sent to this address bounced back. Conoff provided the phone number of the Operations Center to Catherine and asked her to call him back if she had any additional information. ¶7. (SBU) Conoff called the public phone number of the Catholic Medical Mission Board (CMMB),but the office was closed for the weekend. At 6:55 PM, the consular officer called the Operations Center and was connected to the ACS duty officer. The Ops Center had not received any reports of a plane crash, nor any inquiries from relatives of Amcits possibly involved in an aviation incident in Sudan of any kind. ¶8. (SBU) At 7:30 PM, the conoff again called the phone number listed for Miller-Rhees and spoke with a woman identifying herself as Catherine's mother, Lisa. Lisa said that she would try to get after-hours contact information for Catholic Medical Missions and their local staffer. She asked the conoff to call back in 30 minutes. ¶9. (SBU) At 7:50 PM, a USAID officer with extensive contacts in the NGO-community confirmed with UNDSS that the UN had received no reports of a missing plane or any plane crashes over the previous two weeks. In addition, the AID officer told conoff that she had not heard of any activities in Sudan of Catholic Medical Missions. ¶10. (SBU) At 7:55 PM, Catherine Miller-Rhees called conoff through the Ops Center and informed him that the local Catholic Medical Missions staffer, George Malcolm, "has it covered." When asked by conoff what she meant by this, Ms. Miller-Rhees said that Mr. Malcolm did not need the Embassy's assistance. The conoff inquired KHARTOUM 00000641 002 OF 002 how Mr. Malcolm planned to ship the remains of the 13 crash victims back to the U.S. Ms. Miller-Rhees again said that Malcolm "has it covered," and asked the conoff not to call her again. The conoff asked Miller-Rhees for contact information for George Malcolm, Catholic Medical Missions, and the NOK of her deceased fiance. She replied that she would not provide any of this informtion, adding that there was no need for U.S. Embassy assistance. She ended the conversation by repeating her request that the conoff not call her again. ¶11. (SBU) At 8:00 PM, the conoff called the Ops Center to report the above information. The ACS duty officer had also been unable to reach anyone from CMMB or Congressman Inslee's office, but concurred with post's assessment that it was likely the report of the missing plane and casualties was false. ¶12. (SBU) On Monday, May 10, the CA ACS officer contacted the CMMB's national volunteer coordinator, who had no knowledge either of a plane crash in Sudan involving any of the organization's or volunteers. The CMMB coordinator also said that he had not heard of Robert Bryant, the subject of the initial email. CA OCS/ACS/AF left voicemail messages with Congressman Inslee's office for follow-up, but as of May 12, 2009, had not received a response from the Congressman's office. ¶13. (SBU) COMMENT: Based on the lack of any reports regarding a missing/crashed plane from UNDSS, NGOs, the media, or private Amcits, coupled with the refusal of Ms. Miller-Rhees to provide any corroborating or contact information, post believes it likely that the reports of a missing/crashed plane are false. In our view, they could be part of some sort of hoax or fraud scheme. Post takes the safety and security of Amcit cases very seriously. For this reason, conoff assisted by other embassy personnel spent many hours over the weekend trying to track down information on what was apparently a false claim. Accordingly, the Department may wish to investigate this claim to see if it is some sort of cruel misunderstanding or is part of some larger overseas fraud scheme or constitutes a criminal act. FERNANDEZ