Video shows old Thailand helicopter crash, not downed military jets

Published on September 18, 2025 at 11:12
3 min read
By Chayanit ITTHIPONGMAETEE, AFP Thailand

Social media users from rivals Thailand and Cambodia continue to taunt each other with misrepresented clips of disasters more than a month after their bloody border clashes left dozens dead. Recent Khmer-language posts claim a clip shows downed Thai fighter jets, but the video depicts an unrelated helicopter crash.

"Let us recall the conflict on July 24, 2025," says an Instagram post written in Khmer and shared September 8, 2025.

"Some Cambodians still don't believe Cambodia shot down two Thai fighter jets because Thailand has not released any official information."

The featured video shows flames and black smoke rising from an open field, while some onlookers take visuals of the site on their phones.

Screenshot of the false Instagram post, taken September 16, 2025, with a red X added by AFP

Similar posts surfaced on Facebook and TikTok as Thai and Cambodian partisans continued to battle online after a truce halted five days of bloody border clashes between the Southeast Asian rivals in July (archived link).

The conflict left more than 40 people dead and drove more than 300,000 from their homes.

However, there have been no official reports Cambodia has downed Thai fighter jets, and the circulating video predates the conflict by several weeks.

A reverse image search using keyframes found a higher-quality and longer version of the clip published on Facebook on May 24, 2025 (archived link).

"Helicopter crashed in Prachuap Khiri Khan #BreakingNews #HelicopterCrash," says its Thai-language caption, referring to a town in south central Thailand.

A person can also be heard in the clip saying "helicopter crash" in Thai.

Screenshot comparison between the false Instagram post (L) and the Facebook post on May 24, 2025

Elements in the clip correspond to photos shared by a Thai volunteer rescue group on Facebook on May 24 (archived link).

"Prachuan Khiri Khan -- Police helicopter crashed. At around 1pm May 24, there was an incident where a Royal Thai Police helicopter crashed," its caption reads.

Screenshot comparison of the video (L) and the photo from the volunteer rescue group with similar elements highlighted by AFP

Three people died when the police helicopter crashed and burst into flames, according to officials (archived link).

According to Thai newspaper The Nation, preliminary investigations suggest the crash was caused by the loss of control due to a damaged tail rotor (archived link).

AFP has debunked more false claims from duelling Thai and Cambodian social media users here, here and here.

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