Newchecker.in is an independent fact-checking initiative of NC Media Networks Pvt. Ltd. We welcome our readers to send us claims to fact check. If you believe a story or statement deserves a fact check, or an error has been made with a published fact check
Contact Us: [email protected]
Daily Reads
Claim
A Mauritanian passenger plane carrying 210 Hajj pilgrims crashed into the Red Sea.
See the viral posts here.
Fact
Upon performing a reverse image search of the viral video, it was found that on June 15, 2019, the international news agency BBC published a report with a similar video. According to that report, local authorities intentionally sank an empty passenger plane named Airbus A330 off the northwest coast of Turkey to attract tourists to water sports like scuba diving.
A similar video can also be found on a YouTube channel named Dive Magazine.
A report published at the same time by the Turkish news agency Anadolu Agency also mentioned the same incident.
Furthermore, it has been seen that the Mauritanian government has dismissed the news of the plane crash in the viral post as a rumour. The Director of the Hajj Department of the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, El Wely Taha, stated that it is entirely a rumour. No plane crash occurred, and all Hajj pilgrims from their country are safe. Mauritania Airlines has also made the same claim.
Therefore, it is now crystal clear that the news and video of a Mauritanian passenger plane carrying 210 Hajj pilgrims crashing are fake
Sources
Report by BBC, dated June 15, 2019
Report by Anadolu Agency, dated June 15, 2019
Video by Dive Magazine
False
