Old video of helicopter crash falsely linked to Iran president's death
- Published on June 5, 2024 at 08:41
- 3 min read
- By Devesh MISHRA, AFP India
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"Iran's president Ibrahim Raisi dies in helicopter crash #iran #ibraheemraisi #viral_video," read a Hindi-language Instagram post shared on May 20, 2024.
The text was also superimposed on the video, which shows a helicopter hurtling in a downward spiral into a mountain before flames erupt from the dense shrubbery.
Elected president in 2021, ultra-conservative Raisi's time in office saw mass protests, a deepening economic crisis and unprecedented armed exchanges with arch-enemy Israel.
Raisi and seven members of his entourage, including foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, were killed in the crash which saw their helicopter come down on a fog-shrouded mountainside in northern Iran.
The video made the rounds on social media globally in languages including English, Hindi, Thai and Bengali. It was also debunked by AFP's Arabic-language team after it circulated in Arabic posts.
However, the video has circulated in news reports since 2022 about a helicopter crash in Georgia.
Video from 2022
AFP found the footage posted on the verified Facebook page of Georgia-based news channel TV Imedi on July 29, 2022 (archived link).
According to the post, the video shows a Georgian border police chopper that lost control while attempting to rescue paragliders in the ski resort of Gudauri.
Below is a screenshot comparison of the video in the false posts (left) and the TV Imedi clip (right):
The video was published in various news reports about the crash here and here (archived links here and here).
Turkey's Anadolu state news agency reported that the Mi-8 chopper crashed into a gorge in Gudauri in the mountainous region of Georgia's far north while attempting to rescue two paragliders (archived link).
Civil Georgia, a project by the UN Association of Georgia, reported that nine people died following the crash, including a tourist who had been paragliding (archived link).
The footage in the false posts, and TV Imedi clip corresponds to Google Earth view of the Gudauri mountains.
Below is a screenshot comparison of the video in the false posts (left) the TV Imedi clip (centre) and the Google Earth view of Gudauri (right):
AFP debunked other misinformation related to the Iranian president's helicopter crash here and here.
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