Photo from 2020 does not show helicopter crash that killed Iran's president
The same picture, but uncropped and horizontally flipped, was published on April 22, 2020
(Reuters) - A photo from April 2020 of people standing next to aircraft wreckage has been falsely described online as showing the aftermath of the May 2024 helicopter crash that killed Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi.
Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian were on board a helicopter that crashed in a mountainous area near the Azerbaijan border, killing Raisi, Amirabdollahian and six other passengers and crew, officials and state media said on May 20.
The photo shared online shows a group of people standing in a forest next to a wreckage.
“WW3 ALERT NEW PICTURE RELEASED OF HELICOPTER CRASH THAT KILLED IRAN PRESIDENT EBRAHIM RAISI,” an individual sharing the photo to X on May 20 wrote.
But the image dates from April 2020 when it was first shared in relation to a plane crash reported by Iranian media.
The same picture, but uncropped and horizontally flipped, was published on April 22, 2020, by Mizan Agency and Jamaran News, and by Tinn News network on April 23, 2020.
The three reports described the image as showing the wreckage of a plane in Mazandaran Province in northern Iran.
The Iranian Mehr News Agency said on April 22, 2020, that a law enforcement training plane crashed around Motel Ghoo Forest in the Mazandaran Province.
It quoted Iranian police spokesman Second Brigadier General Ahmad Noorian as saying two people were killed.
Reuters previously addressed miscaptioned photos from the April 2020 incident that were falsely linked to the May 2024 helicopter crash that killed Raisi.
VERDICT
Miscaptioned. The photo dates from 2020 when it was shared online in relation to a plane crash in Mazandaran Province, Iran.
