Fact Check: Old Photo of Air Niugini Plane Crash in Micronesia is viral as Recent Incident in Mumbai

After the recent sad news of the Air India plane crash and the constant, heavy rains that are hitting big cities like Mumbai, many are speculating about travel via Airplane. To strengthen this worry about airplane safety and bad weather, many social media users are sharing old images and videos as recent mishaps that occurred in India during airplane travel.

An old photo showing a passenger plane that has crashed into water and partially sunk is in circulation on social media with the claim that it shows a recent airplane crash that occurred in Mumbai, India.

Several people on social media, especially on Facebook and Instagram, have shared the shocking picture of the submerged airplane surrounded by rescue boats. The posts claim that this is a current plane crash in Mumbai. The captions shared along with these images are “मुंबई में समुद्र में बड़ी दुखद घटना विमान क्रैश, सभी यात्री सुरक्षित निकाल लिए गए हैं एक दो घायल हुए हैं उनको हॉस्पिटल भेज दिया गया — in Mumbai - मुंबई.” When translated it claims “A tragic plane crashes into the sea in Mumbai. All passengers have been safely evacuated. A couple of injured have been taken to the hospital. — in Mumbai.”

Here are the claim links.

Here is the screenshot of the claim.

Fact Check:

The claim that the viral photo shows a recent plane crash in Mumbai is FALSE.

We started checking this claim by using a reverse image search on the photo. This search quickly showed that the image has been around for several years. We found many social media posts, particularly on Facebook, which confirmed that the picture was old, specifically dating back to 2018.

We found a few Facebook posts that shared a video with similar visuals, with the caption “An Air Niugini Boeing 737-800 missed the runway while attempting to land on a small island in Micronesia and crashed into the sea on Friday. Live video from the Facebook account of Jumeta Esenaf shows a swarm of fishing boats coming to the rescue as the aircraft sinks off the coast of the Federated States of Micronesia. All passengers were reportedly rescued safely from the submerged aircraft. Air Niugini confirmed there were 35 passengers and 12 crew members and said it had received reports that "the weather was very poor with heavy rain and reduced visibility at the time of the incident."

Our detailed search into the photo's real history confirmed its true origin. The picture is of Air Niugini Flight 73. This Boeing 737-800 passenger jet crashed on September 28, 2018. The plane landed short of the runway and crashed into the Chuuk Lagoon, which is near the airport on the island of Weno in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). The plane was flying from Pohnpei to Port Moresby via Chuuk and hit the water about 145 meters before the runway. News reports from that time thoroughly covered the accident.

Articles on the BBC and The Financial Express published the same kind of photos, showing the plane partially underwater in the Micronesia sea, proving this is the source of the viral image. In a remarkable rescue effort, local people in small boats and nearby U.S. Navy divers helped save 46 people (35 passengers and 12 crew), though sadly one passenger was later found dead. The official report said the crash was caused by the pilots making mistakes and not following proper safety rules.

The social media story that the viral photo shows a recent plane crash in Mumbai is FALSE. The photo is from the crash of Air Niugini Flight 73, which happened on September 28, 2018, in Chuuk Lagoon, Federated States of Micronesia. The image has been wrongly used out of context to spread fear and false news in India.