Old video of IAF Sukhoi fighter crash from Maharashtra goes viral with misleading claims

The viral video is from June 2024, when the Indian Air Force’s Sukhoi fighter crashed in Nashik, Maharashtra.

India-Pakistan diplomatic relations have been strained following the deadly terror attack in Pahalgam. Reports suggest that both countries are moving towards retaliatory measures. Against this backdrop, a video is going viral on social media in which flames can be seen rising in a field. The video is being shared with the claim that the Pakistani Air Force has shot down the Indian Rafale fighter jet near the Poonch sector. 

The caption of the video states, “#Breaking: #IAF Rafale fighter jet shot down over Poonch sector by Pakistani HQ-9 Air Defence System”.

Let’s check the truth.

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Fact Check- 

We started our investigation by running a reverse image search on the same. The results led us to a similar video uploaded on ET NOW ‘s Facebook account in June 2024. This makes it clear that the viral video is not recent, nor is it related to the terrorist attack in Pahalgam.

According to the news, this is about the crash of Sukhoi Su-30MKI fighter plane in Nashik. The description states, “An Indian Air Force Sukhoi fighter jet crashed in Nashik, Maharashtra today, with both pilots safely ejected before the impact”.

Using these hints, we conducted further searches and found a report of Indian Express . According to the news published on 4 June 2024, “Indian Air Force’s Sukhoi fighter aircraft – Su-30 MKI – crashed in Nashik district of Maharashtra. The pilot and co-pilot ejected safely and were taken to Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) hospital, Special Inspector General of Nashik Range D R Karale told PTI.

Apart from this, you can read more news regarding this incident  here and here .

In addition, we looked for instances of fighter planes being shot down amid tensions between India and Pakistan using various keywords.

Apart from this, we started searching with different keywords whether there has been any incident of a fighter plane being shot down amid India-Pakistan tension. We did not find any such report anywhere which could confirm the viral claim.

Conclusion-

Fact Crescendo found the claim made along with the viral video to be False. The viral video is from June 2024, when the Indian Air Force’s Sukhoi fighter plane crashed in Nashik, Maharashtra. The video has no connection with the Pahalgam terror attack.