Video of aircraft scuttling shared with baseless 'Red Sea plane crash' claims
"A plane carrying Mauritanian pilgrims has killed 220 people after crashing in the Red Sea," a Facebook user wrote on May 28, 2025.
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.
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France 24
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The IDF shares orders saying what areas are to be evacuated on its Telegram, Facebook and X accounts as well as publishing flyers. One such order, written in Arabic and shared on the Telegram channel of the IDF's Arabic-language spokesperson on April 11 said, for example: 'The defence army launched a powerful offensive to destroy the capabilities of terrorist organisations. This is a dangerous combat zone. For your safety, you must immediately evacuate to the known shelters in Khan Younis. Staying in shelters, homes or tents puts your life and the lives of your family in danger.' The FRANCE 24 Observers team mapped all of the zones under order. Some other sectors have also been evacuated after orders sent out by text or leaflets, but these evacuations were temporary and haven't been included in this mapping. According to our analysis, more than 78 percent of the Gaza Strip has been affected by at least one evacuation order since fighting began again on March 18 and May 29, 2025. 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AFP
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France 24
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