Old clip of Pakistan passenger plane on flooded runway recirculates in misleading posts

This article is more than one year old.
Published on July 15, 2022 at 11:09
2 min read
By AFP Pakistan

As monsoon rains lashed Pakistan in July, footage of a passenger plane taxiing on a flooded runway was viewed tens of thousands of times in Facebook and Twitter posts alongside a claim it was filmed "live" at Karachi airport. But the clip was shared in a misleading context: it has circulated in reports since August 2020 about flooding at Karachi airport.

The 14-second video was viewed more than 30,000 times after it was shared on Facebook on July 11.

It shows a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) plane taxiing on a flooded runway alongside a caption that reads: "live from Karachi airport."

A screenshot taken on July 14, 2022, of the misleading Facebook post ( AFP)

The monsoon in Pakistan usually lasts from June to September.

While there was recent media coverage of monsoon floods in Karachi, multiple keyword searches found no official reports its airport was inundated as of July 15.

The video was also shared alongside a similar claim in July 2022 posts here, here and here on Facebook; and here, here and here on Twitter.

The video, however, has circulated online since August 2020.

'Not current situation'

A reverse search of keyframes on Google found the video corresponds to footage published on August 27, 2020 here on YouTube by a local channel called "Talk Shows Central".

The video's caption states: "PIA Plane Landing in Deep Water at Karachi Airport".

Karachi saw heavier than average monsoon rains in August 2020, according to a report by Pakistan's meteorological agency here.

Local media Dunya television also reported about torrential rains at the time in the megacity.

Below is a screenshot comparison of the video in one of the misleading posts (left) and the 2020 YouTube footage (right):

A screenshots comparison of the video in misledading post (L) and the video circulating in 2020 (R): ( AFP)

The Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA) also said the video was "old", explaining in a tweet on July 11 that the situation at Karachi's Jinnah International Airport (JIAP) was "normal."

"An old video is being flushed around on social media that shows an airplane moving on a runway covered in water," the PCAA said.

"Please note that this is an old video, nearly 3-year old (sic), and does not depict the present situation at Karachi's JIAP, which is normal, with drains working normally."

An old video is being flushed around on social media that shows an airplane moving on a runway covered in water. Please note that this is an old video, nearly 3-year old, and does not depict the present situation at Karachi's JIAP, which is normal, with drains working normally. pic.twitter.com/wcM5VmQbFg
— PCAAOfficial (@official_pcaa) July 11, 2022

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