A Pakistan-based news anchor Mubasher Lucman shared an image on September 13 claiming that an Indian Mi-17 chopper had crashed in Ladakh amid the recent India-China stand-off at the Line of Actual Control.
Posting the image on his verified Twitter handle, the Pakistani journalist wrote: “Indians please check is this your M 17 crashed in Laddakh? We will keep you posted of any developments”. Lucman actually thought that he is sharing brand new information regarding the India China standoff in LAC and he tried to even mock India, by sharing a 2-year-old image as ‘latest development’.
Following Lucman’s Tweet, several Pakistani Twitter and Facebook users shared the same image of the crashed Indian Air Force chopper with the similar claim.
https://twitter.com/producer434/status/1305160769684766720?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw https://twitter.com/emergingPak001/status/1305108399533809664?ref_src=twsrc%5EtfwHowever, the Paksitanis were using a 2-year-old image to peddle their lie. Many alert social media users who were quick to fact-check the claim. the social media users pointed out that the image which the Pakistani’s claimed was a recent one from Ladakh, is, in fact, a 2018 image and is also not from Ladakh.
https://twitter.com/brahman79837475/status/1305109645552422912?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw https://twitter.com/danlavi508/status/1305356572269268992?ref_src=twsrc%5EtfwActually, the image is that of a Mi-17 helicopter, an IAF cargo aircraft had caught fire while attempting to land near Kedarnath temple in Uttarakhand in April 2018. It was widely covered in media.
On April 3, 2018, a Mi-17 helicopter of the Indian Air Force (IAF) reportedly caught fire after it hit an iron girder while it was attempting to land in a helipad in Kedarnath in Uttarakhand’s Rudraprayag district. Six people, including two pilots, were injured in the incident.