On December 8, the Indian Air Force tweeted shocking news that an IAF Mi-17V5 helicopter, with Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat on board, met with an accident near Coonoor, Tamil Nadu. IAF added that an inquiry has been ordered to ascertain the cause of the accident. As per media reports, 13 out of 14 passengers died in the crash including Mr and Mrs Rawat.
CDS General Bipin Rawat, wife Madulika Rawat among 13 dead as IAF Mi-17V5 helicopter crashes in Tamil Nadu.#IAFChopperCrash #RIPBipinRawat https://t.co/aHwoi2KqAk
— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) December 8, 2021
In the backdrop of this, multiple social media users have posted a video of a chopper in flames and claimed it shows the recent crash. Twitter user @_SirDonBradman_ posted this video and wrote, “Bipin Rawat Helicopter Crashed In Tamil Nadu Video.” This video has been viewed close to one lakh times. Twitter user @MarwadiClub also posted this video.
#bipinrawat #IndianArmy #IndianAirForce #HelicopterCrash #TamilNadu
Bipin Rawat Helicopter Crashed In Tamil Nadu Video. pic.twitter.com/qigqKMhtgl— Sir Don Bradman (@_SirDonBradman_) December 8, 2021
It was also shared by Facebook pages Times Media 24 and Assam123 News. Both pages have over two lakh followers.
Bipin Rawat Helicopter Crashed In Tamil Nadu Video.
#bipinrawat #IndianArmy #IndianAirForce #HelicopterCrash #TamilNadu
Posted by Times Media 24 on Wednesday, 8 December 2021
Video from 2020
The Hindu reported that the IAF helicopter which took off from Sulur airbase was on its way to Defence Services Staff College in Wellington. Unlike the viral video, The Hindu reported that the helicopter caught fire on the impact on the ground and search and rescue efforts were immediately launched. Thus viral video is not related to the incident at hand.
Alt News performed a reverse image search and found that the video dates back to February 2020. It was posted by Athens-based journalist Babak Taghvaee. As per his tweet, the video shows Syria Arab Air Force’s Mi-17 shot down by the Turkish Army near the Syrian town of Al-Nayrab.
This is the last moments before crash and death of the crew members of this Mi-17 utility helicopter of #Syria Arab Air Force which was shot-down over Al-Nayrab, #Idlib by #Turkish Army. Pilots were doing their best to survive but fire spread and separated the tail boom. pic.twitter.com/DrdQulVVia
— Babak Taghvaee – Μπάπακ Τακβαίε – بابک تقوایی (@BabakTaghvaee) February 11, 2020
Alt News isn’t able to verify the details of the video. However, it cannot be related to the recent crash. To sum it up, an old video from Syria that shows a chopper crashing down is shared with the false claim that it depicts the Indian Air Force chopper which crashed on December 8.
