Recently, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi tragically died in a helicopter crash in East Azerbaijan province. The news of his sudden death has rapidly spread across the Internet. Amidst this, a video of a helicopter crash (Archive Link) is widely circulating on social media, claiming that the president’s helicopter going down.
The video is being shared with a caption: “Trump publishes a video of Iranian president’s plane crash… Who is behind the plane crash accident #Iranian_President Ibrahim Raisi and his companions in the forests of Warzgan.”
Let’s verify the veracity of the viral footage.
FACT CHECK
NewsMobile fact checked the claim, and found it to be false.
Running the video keyframes through Reverse Image Search, the NM team spotted a news report, dated July 30, 2022, in IHA — a Turkish daily — carrying a still from the viral video.
According to the report, the video shows a chopper crash wherein eight people lost their lives as a result of the crash of the police helicopter that went to the region to search and rescue the paragliders who fell on Gudauri Mountain in Georgia.
Through an extended search, we found multiple media reports in Giorgia Toady, Meteo Giornale and Daily Mail, dated July 20, 2022.
A tweet on the official X handle of Mercury Strategic Services (MSS), dated July 30, 2022, carries the same footage. The MSS is a defence and security consulting, advising, and training company based in Tbilisi, Georgia. The video was accompanied by a caption: “In #Georgia, a Border Police MIA Mi-8 helicopter lost control and crashed in #Gudauri, in the north of the country. 8 people (2 pilots, 2 doctors, and 4 rescue crew) were on board. No survivors are reported. July 30 (today) is declared a day or mourning by the PM in #Tbilisi.”
The News Today has also uploaded the same helicopter crash video on their YouTube channel with a title: “Video of the accident of the rescue helicopter in Georgia” back on July 30, 2022.
Hence, with the above investigation, it is evident that the viral video is old and unrelated to the unfortunate chopper crash of the Iranian President.
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