Zaid Hamid, famous in Pakistan for Anti-Hindu and Anti-Jewish commentary, put out photo of a crashed chopper on Twitter to claim that an Indian Air Force (IAF) MI-17 helicopter crashed in Ladakh.
Habitual fake news peddling account Irmak Idoya too tweeted the same photo to claim the same.
Today, Indian MI 17 Helicopter has crashed in Ladakh. https://t.co/p4dQSCwZ8u
— Irmak Idoya इरमक ईड्या🇳🇵 (@Irmaknepal) 1600015131000
Pakistani journalist Mubasher Lucman also posted the same photo showing wreckage of a MI-17 chopper to imply that an IAF helicopter crashed recently in Ladakh.
Indians please check is this your M 17 crashed in Laddakh? We will keep you posted of any developments https://t.co/Oc8LJVlGYp
— Mubasher Lucman (@mubasherlucman) 1600006955000
TRUTH
The photo is from 2018.
VERIFICATION AND METHODOLOGY
Using reverse-image search, we found a Times of India news report dated April 3, 2018 which carried the same image.
Titled ‘IAF helicopter collides with iron girder, catches fire; one person killed’, the report mentions that an MI-17 helicopter caught fire after it hit an iron girder while it was attempting to land in a helipad near the Kedarnath temple.
The report carried more photos from the accident.
VERDICT
Times Fact Check has found that a 2018 photo of an IAF MI-17 helicopter wreckage is being falsely passed off as a recent one from Ladakh.
