Two videos are being circulated on social media with the claim that they show an Indian chartered plane crashing to the ground in Afghanistan.
The videos are being shared in the context of a Reuters report published on January 21, 2024, that stated that a chartered flight travelling from India to Moscow via Uzbekistan crashed in the Badakhshan province of Afghanistan. The report claimed that six people died in the crash.
However, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, the statutory body of the Government of India to regulate civil aviation in India, rejected the report and said that no Indian flight has crashed in Afghanistan. It further clarified that the crashed flight was Moroccan.
The Ministry of Civil Aviation tweeted, “The unfortunate plane crash that has just occurred in Afghanistan is neither an Indian Scheduled Aircraft nor a Non Scheduled (NSOP)/Charter aircraft. It is a Moroccan-registered small aircraft. More details are awaited.”
An X user shared an eight-second video in which a person is seen jumping off a biplane. “I think its correct news that indian aircraft crashed in Afghanistan, (sic)” wrote the X user who shared the video along with the screenshot of the Ministry of Civil Aviation tweet denying that the plane is Indian.
On doing a Google Reverse Image Search with one of the video’s screenshots, we found the same uploaded by a YouTube channel, Trevor Jacob, on December 24, 2021. The video was shared with the title, ‘I Crashed My Airplane.’
Taking a hint, we searched with appropriate keywords and found a screenshot of the video shared by The Guardian on May 11, 2023. The report associated with the screenshot read that Trevor Jacob, a 29-year-old YouTuber has been accused of crashing his plane intentionally to get views of his channel. He said that he purposely crashed a single-engine plane in California’s Los Padres National Forest in 2021.
The latest report by CNBC on December 5, 2023, told that Jacob was sentenced to six months in federal prison for his act.
Another X user shared the second video. The 38-second video shows a plane falling from the sky and exploding into flames.
The caption associated with the image read, “Alleged footage of an Indian #planecrash in Afghanistan carrying Senior RAW intelligence officers. All on-baord were killed. (sic)”
On searching with appropriate keywords, we found the same video uploaded by a YouTube channel on May 1, 2013. The caption associated with the video said that the footage was of a Boeing 747 plane which crashed near Bagram Airbase in Afghanistan. The caption read, “Boeing 747 plane crashes near Bagram Airbase in Afghanistan, killing seven crew in the explosion as it hit the ground. The plane was on its way to Dubai when it crashed to the ground.”
Firstpost also shared a screenshot of the video on May 1, 2013. The article associated with the screenshot suggested that the plane crashed right after it took off from the base in Bagram, Afghanistan. The report further suggested that the National Air Cargo operated the cargo plane.