AFP photo shows fatal Indonesian plane crash in 2007, not 2022

  • This article is more than one year old.
  • Published on June 24, 2022 at 14:16
  • 2 min read
  • By AFP Indonesia
Links to blog articles featuring a photo of a plane wreckage have been shared in multiple Facebook posts with the claim the image shows an Indonesian plane crash in June 2022. But the claim is false; the blog articles discuss a 2007 plane crash in the Indonesian city of Yogyakarta and feature an AFP photo of that incident.

A blog link and photo of the crash was shared in this post in a Facebook group with more than 77,900 members on June 20, 2022.

The post's Indonesian-language caption repeats the headline of the blog article: "Today, Garuda Plane Crashes and Catches Fire, 22 People Die."

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Screenshot of the misleading Facebook post, taken on June 22, 2022

The same photo, featured in links to similar blog posts, was also published on Facebook groups here, here, here and here, with more than 300,000 members in total. 

But the claim is false.

The blog post shared with the false claim describes an air crash incident in the Indonesian city of Yogyakarta on March 7, 2007. 

The original photo, which can be seen here on AFP's website, shows people fleeing the wreckage of a plane from the same incident.

Below is a screenshot of the genuine photo on AFP's website: 

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Screenshot of the genuine photo on AFP's website

The photo's caption reads: "Picture obtained by AFP 09 March 2007 showing survivors fleeing from a Boeing 737-400 jet, belonging to the Indonesian flag carrier Garuda, which overshot the runway and caught fire after a rough landing at the airport in Yogyakarta, 07 March 2007, killing 21 persons.

"More than 100 people escaped from the burning wreckage of the Boeing 737."

Below is a comparison of the photo in the misleading Facebook post (left) and the AFP photo (right):

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Screenshot comparison of the photo in the misleading Facebook post (left) and the AFP photo (right)

AFP reported on the 2007 plane crash here and here, saying that the Indonesian airliner -- which was carrying more than 130 people from the capital city Jakarta to Yogyakarta -- burst into flames after a rough landing.

Police put the official death toll at 21. 

As of June 24, there have been no reports of an air crash in Indonesia in June 2022. 

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