Claim: A social media user shared a video of a helicopter burning with a caption that claims “the General of the Quetta Corps was killed in a helicopter crash along with five of his senior officers.”
Fact: The post is misleading as the video is from 2020 in Syria, not from the recent helicopter crash in Balochistan.
On 2 August 2022, a Facebook user shared a video of a burning helicopter in air with a Pashto caption
دغه اوس د کویٹہ قول اردو جنرال خپل د ۵ لوړ رتبه افسرانو سره په چورلکي سقوط کي ووژل شو –
Translated in English the caption reads; “The General of the Quetta Corps was killed in a helicopter crash along with his five senior officers.” The caption is referring to a recent helicopter crash in Balochistan that claimed the lives of six army officers.
The video was also shared here on Twitter.
Fact or Fiction?
The 29-second video actually shows a Mi-17 helicopter in Syria aflame in the air before crashing.
Soch Fact Check conducted a reverse image search of the keyframes of the viral video and found an article by the Centre for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies (EDAM) that includes a frame from the same video.
The article, published on 12 February 2020, is about Turkey’s counter-offensive against the Syrian Arab Armed Forces. The image’s caption reads: “A Mi-17 helicopter was shot down by the armed opposition around al-Neirab.”
A keyword search on YouTube found a video report by the Associated Press showing corresponding footage.
Similar videos of the Syrian helicopter crash by several other media outlets can be seen here and here.
Conclusion: The video allegedly showing an Army helicopter crash in Balochistan is actually from an incident in Syria that took place in 2020.
[…] Fact Check previously debunked a claim about the Pakistan Army helicopter catching fire before crashing as well as old photos falsely linked to the […]