Fact check: Viral videos showing CDS Rawat's chopper crash misleading [truth here]

India suffered a tragic loss on Wednesday when India's first CDS General Bipin Rawat tragically died in an IAF chopper crash. CDS Rawat's wife and 11 other bravehearts also died in the tragedy. As the people mourned the loss of the nation's warriors, condolences poured in from all over the world. Capitalizing on the tragic topic, some miscreants shared videos claiming to be of the CDS Rawat's chopper crash.

The mystery of how IAF Mi-17V5 helicopter carrying VVIP persons crashed has baffled many. A 25 special team of the Air force officers led by Wing Commander R. Bhardwaj has recovered the black box but more details are awaited. The black box can reveal the data about the helicopter's final flight situation and other aspects.

Without conclusive evidence, it became hard to arrive any conclusions. But some videos shared on social media claim to be of IAF Mi-17V5 helicopter crash near Coonoor in Ooty.

The claim

At least two videos have been widely circulated on social media and in WhatsApp groups, claiming to show the moments before IAF Mi-17V5 helicopter carrying CDS Rawat and others crashed. In one video, the chopper can be seen caught on fire mid-air and its parts falling off. The chopper, like a ball of fire, can be seen plunging to the ground in the video.

In another video, a military helicopter can be seen crash landing in the backdrop of a mountain. The video also shows a few people running towards the chopper. It appears, one of the persons on ground captured the video, but didn't show if the chopper caught fire.

Fact check

International Business Times reviewed the footage and found them to be misleading for various reasons. Both videos appear to be old and completely unrelated to CDS Rawat's chopper crash.

In the first video shared by many users on Twitter and Facebook, which has collectively garnered lakhs of views, is an old one from last year. A Google reverse image search of a few frames in the video brings up an incident from last year, wherein a Syrian air force helicopter was shot down by rebels in the area of Nairab in eastern Idlib.

Turkey's official Anadolu news agency had reported the incident, which killed the pilot and two others. With minor text overlay in Tamil, the video has now been passed off as the last moment of Gen Rawat's chopper crash in Tamil Nadu. Check out the original video below, shared by Telegraph when the incident had taken place last year. 

Another video, widely circulated in WhatsApp groups as CDS Rawat's chopper crash footage, is unrelated. Looking closely, the video briefly captures a white male and few others in black attire, but the photos and videos from the crash site mainly showed locals and military officials. There is no sign of a foreigner present in the CDS Rawat's crash site. We also compared the landscape in the video against that of IAF chopper crash site and there were no similarities.

We dug further and ran a Google reverse image search of frames in the video and it links to an incident from last month. The video circulated on all channels is of a helicopter crash at Anjaw in Arunachal Pradesh on 18 November 2021. The incident was widely covered, and there were no casualties. There were five army personnel on board. The chopper had crash-landed at Roccham helipad after the rotors were completely damaged while it was carrying out a sortie.

Based on the evidence gathered, IBTimes has arrived at the conclusion that both videos claiming to be the last moments of CDS Rawat's chopper crash are false. They are from different incidents, entirely unrelated to the recent tragedy.