Simulation Video Shared as 'Final Moments' of Crash of Boeing 737 Plane in China

Fact-Check | A video from a video simulation showing the crash of Ethiopian airline plane was shared as the recent crash in China.

(Photo: The Quint)

A 10-second video showing a plane crash has gone viral with a claim that it shows the final moments before the Eastern Airlines plane crashed in China's Guangxi province on Monday, 21 March.

The video claims to have been shot from inside the aircraft.

However, we found that the video was taken from a video simulation created using X-Plane 11 Flight Simulator. It showed a recreation of the 2019 crash involving Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 that claimed 157 lives.

CLAIM

The caption with the viral video read, "A Boeing 737 just crashed in southern China. This was one of the last moment recorded on the plane. maybe the only moment. Viewers’ discretion advised."

The video had been viewed over 2 lakh times while this story was being written.

An archive of the post can be found here.

(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)

The video was shared by several social media users on Facebook and Twitter, archives of which can be found here and here.

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

Upon observing the video closely, we noticed that the logo on the aircraft was that of Ethiopian airlines.

Comparison of logo in viral video with Ethiopian airlines.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

Taking a cue from that, we conducted a keyword search on YouTube for Ethiopian airlines crash and found a video titled, "Ethiopia Plane Crash, Ethiopia Airlines B737 MAX Crashes After Takeoff" published on 11 March 2019.

The viral clip was seen roughly from 9:33 seconds.

According to the description on YouTube, the video showed a simulated version of the crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 that took place on 10 March 2019. However, it also added that it didn't show an exact recreation of the crash.

A Boeing 737 passenger plane carrying 132 people onboard has crashed in China on Monday. Chinese state media reported that the crash caused a fire in the woods, which was later put out, according to China's Central Television, Bloomberg reported.

There are some videos of the crash site released by Chinese state media, however, none of them are from inside the aircraft.

Evidently, a simulation video showing the crash of an Ethiopian aircraft was shared to falsely claim that it showed the final moments before the Eastern Airlines plane crashed in China.

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