Clip of turbulence during Pakistani flight falsely linked to Air India tragedy

Published on June 25, 2025 at 11:56
3 min read
By Tendai DUBE, AFP South Africa

In the days following the fatal Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad, social media posts circulated footage from inside a cabin purporting to show the last moments before the disaster. However, this is false; the video was filmed weeks before the crash and shows a Pakistani flight, operated by private carrier Fly Jinnah, experiencing severe turbulence as it descended into Allama Iqbal International Airport in Lahore in May 2025.

“Indian plane crash - Key moment before the Plane crash,” reads the caption of a Facebook post published on June 13, 2025.

Screenshot of the false post, published on June 13, 2025

The clip shows passengers onboard a plane, screaming as the aircraft shakes violently.

The same video has been shared thousands of times in Burmese on Facebook and TikTok.

Air India

Air India flight 171, a London-bound plane, crashed into a medical staff building in a residential area of Ahmedabad shortly after takeoff on June 12, 2025, resulting in the death to date of at least 279 people (archived here).

One person onboard the doomed flight miraculously escaped the fiery crash, which left the tailpiece of the aircraft protruding from the second floor of a hostel for medical staff from a nearby hospital (archived here).

The in-flight voice and data recorders have been recovered as investigators work to determine the cause of the disaster (archived here).

Workers remove the Air India flight 171 tail from the wreckage after the June 12 crash in a residential area near the airport on June 14, 2025 (AFP / DIBYANGSHU SARKAR)

However, claims that the video of terrified passengers was filmed moments before the crash are false.

Pakistan sandstorm

A reverse image search of keyframes in the clip led us to a Facebook post with the same footage published weeks before the Air India crash on May 24, 2025 (archived here).

Published by an account called “Pakistan Republic”, the caption reads: “Flight from Karachi to Lahore Caught in Severe Windstorm! Violent turbulence mid-air causes panic among passengers – terrifying scenes reported.”

A Google search found other articles here and here about the turbulent flight, operated by Fly Jinnah, a private carrier in Pakistan. The aircraft had encountered a sandstorm while attempting to land at Allama Iqbal International Airport (archived here and here).

Screenshots comparing the video in the false post (left) with the clip published before the Air India crash, taken on June 24, 20254

The reports revealed a similar incident a week earlier when another flight operated by the same airline faced a severe dust storm while approaching the Pakistani city of Quetta.

That flight made four failed landing attempts before finally landing with low fuel levels.

According to a directive seen by AFP on June 21, 2025, New Delhi’s civil aviation regulator ordered Air India to remove three officials from their roles due to “systemic failures”, but it did not say if it was linked to the June 12 crash (archived here).

AFP Fact Check has debunked numerous claims related to the Air India crash, including here, here and here.

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