The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Woman’s injured north man claims may have been hoax
Paris: Foreign Office not aware of supposed Highland victim of terrorism
Reports that a Highland man was injured in the Paris terror attacks may have been a hoax.
A woman appearing to have links to Inverness and South-Korea claimed on social media that her cousin from Fort William had been missing and was then found unconscious outside the Bataclan theatre with head injuries.
Dozens of people contacted her to express their hopes for Callum Macdonald’s speedy recovery, and his connection to the atrocity was widely reported.
The 22-year-old woman later added on Monday that Mr Macdonald had been put into an induced comain hospital because of a complication with his leg.
Highland MP Ian Blackford raised the case in Westminster later that day. However, it is understood that the Foreign Office is not aware of Mr Macdonald being injured in the attack.
The woman who wrote the messages yesterday disabled several social media accounts.
Before she did, she wrote: “Thank you for all the support and helping us on finding him but his family won’t do anything with the press and it’s given a hell since (sic).
“So we’ve decided to deactivate my social media accounts, effective immediately. Thank you.”
The woman, whose account had said she was from Inverness but studying English in South-Korea, did not respond to the Press and Journal’s request for comment yesterday.
Last night, Mr Blackford said: “When we heard stories that there was someone from Fort William that may have been caught up in this, obviously our thoughts were with said individual and the family, just as they were with everyone else. However, if it is the case that this has been a wilful hoax, then that’s deeply regrettable.
“At a time when the security services will have been stretched, this may have wasted valuable police and security service time.”
A Foreign Office spokesman said: “One British national is confirmed to have died and two others were injured and treated in hospital.”
“This may have wasted police and security service time”