13 year old image from Iraq viral as US military air craft crash in Afghanistan

After Kabul was captured by the Taliban, social media is flooded with misinformation related to the seize. Amidst this, an image of an aircraft on fire is circulating on social media claiming a US Military C 130 aircraft has crashed in the Farah province which has taken several lives including hundreds of citizens and soldiers. Further the post claims that the plane was going to Qatar from the Kabul airport.

The caption of the post mentions that “A #US military C 130 plane has crashed in #Farah province. killing and injuring hundreds of people and soldiers. The plane was en route from #Kabul airport to #Qatar.”

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Fact Check- 

We started our investigation by running a keyword search on Google to find relevant news report on the US Military place air crash in the Farah Province. Farah is one of the provinces in Afghanistan location next to Iran. We could not find any relevant news report which stated about the air crash killing hundreds of citizens and US Military. It seemed very obvious that if such a major crash had taken place recently, international as well as local media is ought to report it. However, we could not find any credible media house reporting about this crash in Afghanistan recently.

Moving on to the image of the airplane on fire, we ran a reverse image search on Google which led us to the website of Alamy stock images who stated that this image is 13 years old. According to the website this image was taken on 7 July 2008. The image was taken in Baghdad, Iraq after the C-130 airplane made an emergency landing in a field north of Baghdad International Airport. The Explosive Ordinance Disposal team was using a series of controlled detonations designed to divide the airplane into smaller pieces so it could be easily moved. 

The description of the image states “BAGHDAD, Iraq — Explosive Ordinance Disposal personnel from the 447th Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron at Sather Air Base, Iraq, detonate explosives to detach the wings from the body of a C-130 Hercules here July 7. The EOD team is using a series of controlled detonations designed to divide the airplane into smaller pieces so it can be easily moved. The C-130 made an emergency landing in a field north of Baghdad International Airport shortly after take-off June 27. Tech. Sgt. Jeffrey Allen)”

Social media is flooded with misinformation related to the ongoing unrest in Afghanistan post the Taliban take over. You can read more fact checks related to this incident below-

Conclusion- Fact Crescendo found that the claim made along with the viral image is False. There are no credible new reports that has reported any major air crash in Farah province of Afghanistan claiming lives of hundreds. The image shared along with the post is 13 years old and it shows controlled detonation process of a damaged US air place in Baghdad, Iraq.