Old plane crash video falsely linked to India-Pakistan conflict

"Pakistanis rescuing a pilot from an Indian aircraft shot down by a Pakistani military attack," reads part of a Sinhala-language Facebook post shared May 7, 2025. 

The post includes a reel whose caption says in Urdu: "Take this, Your father Pakistan has destroyed seven Indian planes. A video of shooting down of one plane has surfaced".

The video shows a plane engulfed in flames and people tending to someone dressed in military fatigues. An AFP reporter confirmed the people in the video are speaking in Hindi with a rural accent.

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Screenshot of a Sinhala-language Facebook post captured May 20, 2025

India launched air strikes on what it called "terrorist camps" in Pakistan on May 7, triggering an immediate response from Islamabad (archived link). 

The fighting was touched off by an attack last month in the Indian-administered side of disputed Kashmir that killed 26 tourists, mostly Hindu men, which New Delhi blamed on Islamabad. Pakistan denies any involvement in the attack. 

Pakistan claimed it downed five Indian warplanes, including three French-made Rafale fighter jets, although New Delhi has not confirmed any losses (archived link).

The clashes, the worst between the neighbours in decades, were brought to a halt by a ceasefire announced May 10. 

Similar claims spread elsewhere on Facebook alongside the same video. But the footage predates the violence. 

A reverse image search and subsequent keyword searches on Google found a Facebook reel published February 7 on the verified Facebook account of Indian media outlet Aaj Tak (archived link). 

"Another video has emerged related to the crash of an Indian Air Force fighter aircraft (Mirage-2000) near Bahreta Sani village in Shivpuri district of Madhya Pradesh," part of the Hindi-language caption reads. 

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Screenshot comparison of the false Facebook post (L) and the video posted by Aaj Tak

The footage bears the red logo of Aaj Tak, visible in the top right-hand part of the clip shared on Facebook.

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Screenshot of a Facebook post taken May 20, 2025

Business Today published the same video on February 7 (archived link). 

Other Indian media organisations, including The Times of India and NDTV, reported that a twin-seater Mirage 2000 fighter aircraft from the country's air force crashed in the state of Madhya Pradesh on February 6 (archived links here and here).  

The Indian Air Force said on X that the pilots ejected before the plane crashed due to a system malfunction (archived link). 

A police officer from Karera -- a municipality in the Shivpuri district of Madhya Pradesh -- also confirmed the plane crash to Bhaskar English and said two pilots were on board the jet when it crashed. The Indian news outlet quoted one of the pilots (archived link).

AFP has debunked other misinformation stemming from the conflict between India and Pakistan here.