FACT CHECK: THIS ISN'T IRANIAN PRESIDENT'S CRASHED HELICOPTER, THESE PHOTOS ARE 4 YEARS OLD
Iranian state media confirmed that Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, and other senior officials died in a helicopter crash on May 19. Raisi was reportedly returning from his visit to Azerbaijan when the helicopter crashed near Jolfa, a city on the border with Azerbaijan. Now photos going viral claim to show the debris from this crash. In this story, we will debunk two such photos:
THE FIRST PHOTO:
Sharing this picture, an X user wrote, "Many Bodies of those who died in the Iran President Raisi helicopter crash have been burnt and cannot be identified." Its archive can be seen here.
A reverse search led to Iranian media reports published in April 2020 that contained the viral picture. As per Jahan news, the image shows a training plane flying from Bisheh Kolah to Tehran. It crashed near Mutalaq (Salman Shahr) and the wreckage was found in Iran's Kila Kala Abbas Abad area. The plane reportedly crashed during a police operation due to adverse weather conditions.Â
The report was published in the Persian year 1399, which is the same as the year 2020. Currently, only Iran and Afghanistan follow the Persian calendar.Â
We also found several other local media reports published around the same time that said the viral photo showed the crash in Kila Kala Abbas Abad. The screenshot of such a news report can be seen below along with the date it was published.Â
THE SECOND PHOTO
Another photo of what appears to be a crashed aircraft's wreckage was widely shared on social media linking to the Iranian president's helicopter crash. The viral post's archive can be seen here.
A reverse search of this photo as well led us to news reports about the 2020 plane crash mentioned above. We found this in a report published in 2020 on the official website of the Mizan News Agency. As per the report, the wreckage of the plane was found in the Kila Kala Abbas Abad area.
Thus, it's clear that both photos going viral are unrelated to Ebrahim Raisi's helicopter crash.
2024-05-20T14:16:01Z dg43tfdfdgfd