
Video of aircraft scuttling shared with baseless 'Red Sea plane crash' claims
The 24-second clip shows an aircraft surrounded by boats as it slowly sinks below the water's surface.
Image
Screemshot of the false Facebook post, taken May 30, 2025
The claim was shared by other Thai users, as well as in Burmese and Arabic posts. It surfaced as millions of Muslim pilgrims descended on the holy city of Mecca ahead of the annual Hajj, which begins on June 4 (archived links here and here).
However, there have not been any credible reports of a plane carrying pilgrims from Muslim-majority Mauritania crashing in May 2025.
In response, Mauritania Airlines issued a statement via its official Facebook page on May 27, 2025 (archived link).
The statement reads, in part: "Some foreign social media pages circulated malicious rumours about the crash of a plane carrying Mauritanian pilgrims off the Red Sea, which is baseless news."
The statement also said that all the three flights carrying Mauritanian pilgrims arrived safely in Saudi Arabia via flights on May 23, 24, and 25.
Old clip from Turkey
A reverse image search using one of the video's keyframes found an identical YouTube video published on July 18, 2019 (archived link).
The video's title reads, "Turkey Airbus A330 Sinking Ibrice 14 June 2019".
The YouTube video matches the false clip at the 2:05 mark.
Image
Screenshot comparison between the false Facebook post (L) and the YouTube video
The video was also featured in reports by the BBC and Turkey's Anadolu Agency about a repurposed Airbus A330 plane that was sunk to create an artificial reef off the northwestern coast of Turkey (archived links here and here).
"The 65m (213ft) long aircraft was plunged 30m deep in the Aegean Sea off Ibrice Harbour in Edirne province," the BBC wrote.
The plane's livery belongs to a Turkish pipeline company, the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP), which also supported the scuttling of the plane to create the artificial reef for tourism, according to the Anadolu report.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles

LeMonde
6 hours ago
- LeMonde
Ukraine: The 'cardboard revolution' enters its second day of protests
"Even the introverts are here!" Ukrainians have a knack for slogans, and on Wednesday, July 23, two days after MPs voted through a controversial law that stripped two of Ukraine's main anti-corruption agencies of their independent status, the second night of demonstrations was akin to a festival of creative signs. The people of Kyiv gathered in front of the Ivan Franko National Academic Drama Theater, in far greater numbers than had come the day before: 9,000, according to the police. This time, they had managed to grab cardboard from the post office or Nova Poshta (a private postal competitor) and to hone their messaging. Sitting on curbs or leaning against low walls, with markers in hand and tongues sticking out in concentration, they perfected their slogans before brandishing them in front of the presidential palace. The movement has already been dubbed the "cardboard revolution." Many had believed that Ukraine's young people had all left the country to escape conscription or bombardments. Yet the youth were present in Kyiv and in several other cities across the country. On Tuesday, a young veteran who enlisted in 2023 and sported a black beard and a plain white T-shirt was the main figure who called for the protests on social media. By Wednesday, the call had spread across Facebook, with adults and elected officials included, announcing demonstrations to be held at 8 pm in Kyiv and 6 pm in regional capitals. Yet it was the country's young people, simultaneously serious and witty, who took the lead. They chose the makeshift cardboard signs to show that they did not want pre-printed posters, partisan materials or the slogans of career politicians.


AFP
8 hours ago
- AFP
Hoax posts about Malaysian cash aid scheme misuse unrelated visuals
The purported news report by online news site Malaysiakini was shared on Facebook on July 19, 2025. "GOVERNMENT ASSISTANCE OF RM50,000 FOR ANYONE WHO APPLIES," reads the Malay-language chyron on the report, which features footage of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim at various events and a voiceover that repeats the claim about the subsidy. "Please check your eligibility and the application method," the voiceover says. Image Screenshot of the false Facebook post captured on July 22, 2025, with a red X added by AFP Another version of the claim shared on July 11, 2025 includes a photo of people posing in an office with a mock cheque labelled "Disaster fund Turkey". Image Screenshot of the false Facebook post captured on July 23, 2025, with a red X added by AFP Other posts on Facebook ask users to get in touch for further details about the purported subsidy. AFP reached out to one of the Facebook accounts and was given an order form asking for personal details, including full name and delivery address. Applicants are also told to prepare a copy of their national identity card and bank statement. Scam posts demanding users' personal information regularly circulate on social media in Malaysia. AFP has previously debunked accounts impersonating government schemes that garnered tens of thousands of followers. However, the government has not announced a 50,000 ringgit cash aid scheme. A spokesperson for the finance ministry told AFP the claim is false, and pointed to a list of all genuine government assistance announced under the 2025 budget instead (archived link). Misused visuals A combination of keyword and reverse image searches on Google using keyframes from the falsely shared video led to a similar news clip published by Malaysiakini on its Instagram page on July 15, 2025 (archived link). The original report states Anwar would make a "big announcement" as a tribute to Malaysians (archived link). On July 23, he announced a host of measures to help citizens with cost of living issues, such as a 100 ringgit handout and lowered petrol prices (archived link). A Malaysiakini representative told AFP on July 22 that its logo had been misused. "This is definitely not our video. We have never edited any of our videos to promote government aid," the spokesperson said. The clip shared in the false posts has been altered, including font that does not match Malaysiakini's style and a pink chyron covering the original orange one that reads "Anwar to announce extraordinary tribute to citizens". Image Screenshot comparison between the fabricated clip (left) and a genuine Malaysiakini news video report (right) A separate reverse image search on Google found the photo of people posing with a mock cheque was first posted on the verified X account of the Ambassador of Turkey to Kuala Lumpur on March 3, 2023 (archived link). Image Screenshot comparison of the false post (left) and the original post by the Ambassador of Turkey to Kuala Lumpur (right) The ambassador was thanking the Malaysian Aeon Foundation, a charitable organisation under the Aeon Group of Companies, for donating to victims of the devastating earthquake that struck Turkey in February 2023. A similar photo of the event was also published on the Aeon Credit website (archived link).


Local France
9 hours ago
- Local France
Macrons file defamation suit against right-wing US podcaster
The 218-page complaint against Candace Owens, who has millions of followers on X and YouTube, was filed by the Macrons in Delaware Superior Court and seeks a jury trial and unspecified punitive damages. In a statement released by their lawyer, the Macrons said they filed the lawsuit after Owens repeatedly ignored requests to retract false and defamatory statements made on an eight-part YouTube and podcast series called "Becoming Brigitte." "Owens' campaign of defamation was plainly designed to harass and cause pain to us and our families and to garner attention and notoriety," they said. Advertisement "We gave her every opportunity to back away from these claims, but she refused. "It is our earnest hope that this lawsuit will set the record straight and end this campaign of defamation once and for all." The suit accuses Owens of using her popular podcast to spread "verifiably false and devastating lies" about the Macrons including that Brigitte Macron was born a man, that they are blood relatives and that Macron was chosen to be France's president as part of a CIA-operated mind control programme. "If ever there was a clear-cut case of defamation, this is it," Tom Clare, a lawyer for the Macrons, said in a statement. "Owens both promoted and expanded on those falsehoods and invented new ones, all designed to cause maximum harm to the Macrons and maximize attention and financial gain for herself." Brigitte Macron, 72, has also taken to the courts in France to combat claims she was born a man. Two women were convicted in September of last year of spreading false claims after they posted a YouTube video in December 2021 alleging that Brigitte Macron had once been a man named Jean-Michel Trogneux -- who is actually her brother. The ruling was overturned by a Paris appeals court and Macron appealed to the highest appeals court, the Court de Cassation, earlier this month.