Dubai’s Emirates airline on Thursday rubbished rumours that five of its employees have committed suicide.

Reacting to a post on Twitter, the airline said: “We can confirm that the news is untrue and request not to spread rumours.”

According to rumours floating on some sections of social media, five Emirates employees allegedly committed suicide in Silicon Oasis. According to another, equally false post, three staff - a pilot and two cabin crew members - have taken the extreme step.

The airline has begun laying off employees to reduce cost and save cash as the carrier looks to rightsize its workforce.

“We at Emirates have been doing everything possible to retain the talented people that make up our workforce for as long as we can. However, given the significant impact that the pandemic has had on our business, we simply cannot sustain excess resources and have to rightsize our workforce in line with our reduced operations. After reviewing all scenarios and options, we deeply regret that we have to let some of our people go,” the spokesperson said in the statement earlier this week.