Viral Image of Russian Plane Crash Found to Be from 2013 San Francisco Incident

A passenger aircraft operated by Angara Airlines crashed in Russia, killing all 49 people on board on 24 July 2025. Angara, a Siberian regional airline, was en route from Blagoveshchensk to Tynda, an important railway junction in the Amur region, carrying 42 passengers, five children, and six crew members.

Against this backdrop, an image of a crashed plane is going viral on social media. The image showing a plane bearing the name “Asian Airlines” with heavy damage is circulating on social media. Users are claiming that the image is from the recent plane crash in Russia.

However, Fact Crescendo found the claim to be misleading. This is an old image of a plane crash in San Francisco from 2013 and not related to the recent incident from Russia. 

What’s the claim? 

Sharing the image, social media users are claiming that this Russian passenger plane was carrying around 50 people, including 5 children. It crashed near Tynda in the Amur region, close to China. The An-24 aircraft, run by Angara Airlines, disappeared from radar during a landing attempt and was later found destroyed on a mountainside, with no survivors. The plane was on fire when rescuers arrived.

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Fact Check- 

A Google Reverse Image Search led us to the same image published on the CNBC website in 2013. According to the report, on July 6, 2013, Asiana Airlines Flight 214 crashed at San Francisco International Airport while arriving from Seoul. The plane struck a seawall, causing the tail section to break off and triggering a fire. There were 307 people on board; only two teenage passengers died and over 180 were injured. No mechanical failure was found in the investigation. The crash was caused by pilot error during a low and unstable approach.

The USA Today reported that an Asian Airlines Flight 214 carrying 307 people from Seoul to San Francisco crash-landed on July 6, 2013. The aircraft descended too low and slow, striking a seawall just short of the runway, which damaged its tail and caused a fire. Three teenagers and nearly 190 passengers were injured. 

Conclusion: 

Fact Crescendo found the claim to be misleading. An old image of a plane crash from San Francisco went viral as a recent incident of a flight crash from Russia.