Several verified accounts associated with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress have shared a photograph of a helicopter exploding mid-air on their profiles, linking it to the helicopter crash between Lincholi and Garudchatti near Uttarakhand's Kedarnath on Tuesday,18 October.
The chopper was flying from Guptkashi to Kedarnath in Uttarakhand and was carrying seven people, including two pilots. All those on board were reported to have been killed in the crash.
However, the photograph does not show visuals of the crashed chopper. We found that the photograph has been on the internet since March 2015 and is not related to the tragic crash. Further, we found a stock image of a helicopter, which is not on fire, dated September 2012, which bears resemblance to the viral image.
CLAIM
BJP's Gorakhpur (Uttar Pradesh) MLA P N Pathak and social media in-charge Rahul Gurjar, and BJP UP media panelist O P Mishra shared the photograph on their verified Twitter accounts, along with Congress' Viratnagar (Rajasthan) MLA Indraj Gurjar, and former All India Congress Committee (AICC) secretary Jitendra Baghel.
They condoled the loss of the lives of those on board.
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An archive of this tweet can be seen here.
(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
We ran a reverse image search on the photo, which led us to the same photograph on stock photo website iStock.
The photo was published on the website on 24 March 2015, and was shared with a caption noting that it showed a mid-air helicopter explosion.
The photo was credited to one 'Giocalde'. We clicked on the name, which led us to a profile on iStock. On entering 'helicopter' as a keyword, we came across several photographs, one of which was that of a helicopter similar to the one seen in the viral image, but it didn't show any explosion.
The date mentioned in the caption of the photograph was 9 September 2012 and it noted the location as Valdagno, Italy. We have reached out to the person, Giocalde, these pictures were credited to, and the story will be updated as and when we receive a response.
We also found several news reports (links here, here, and here) that used the same photograph as a representational image of a helicopter crash over the years.
WHAT HAPPENED IN KEDARNATH?
A private helicopter carrying five pilgrims and two pilots crashed at Garudchatti in Rudraprayag district in Uttarakhand, near the Kedarnath temple at around 11:40 am on Tuesday, 18 October.
A senior DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) official identified the aircraft as an Aryan Aviation Bell-407 helicopter VT-PRN, adding that it was flying from the Kedarnath temple to Guptkashi when the tragic incident happened, as per Quint Hindi.
As per a report by The Indian Express, the chopper collided with a low hill due to bad weather conditions. All those aboard were feared dead.
The Uttarakhand State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) reached the site of the crash to conduct relief operations on receiving information about the mishap, the force said in a tweet.
Union Minister for Civil Aviation and Steel Jyotiraditya Scindia also took to Twitter calling the crash "extremely unfortunate," adding that they were in contact with the state government to "ascertain the magnitude of the loss," and were "constantly monitoring the situation."
In a tweet, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami too expressed grief over the accident, saying that a "detailed inquiry" had been order into the "tragic incident."
Clearly, an old, unrelated photo of a helicopter exploding mid-air is being incorrectly linked to the crash near Kedarnath, Uttarakhand.
(Update: The story has been updated to reflect that the picture could have been edited.)
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