Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
Claim
Turkey deploys night-vision helicopters in search of Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi.
The archived version of the tweet can be seen here.
Raisi, along with foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and six other passengers and crew, were reportedly killed in a helicopter crash in East Azerbaijan province on Sunday, amid a period of heightened regional tensions owing to the Gaza conflict and Iran’s recent escalations with Israel. The wreckage was found early on Monday after an overnight search in poor weather conditions.
Fact
Newschecker first ran a keyword search “Turkey search operation Iran president helicopter crash”, which led us to multiple news reports stating that Turkey’s Defence Ministry had on Sunday said that the country would send drones and a helicopter carrying night-vision equipment to Iran to help locate the regime leader. The reports can be seen here, here and here.
“Based on the request made by the Iranian authorities through the Foreign Ministry, an Akinci UAV and a Cougar-type helicopter with night vision capability were assigned to participate in the search and rescue activities of the crashed helicopter of the president of Iran and his delegation,” Turkey’s Defence Ministry said in a statement.
We then ran a reverse image search of keyframes of the video, which led us to this Youtube video, dated March 20, 2013, headlined, “Night Vision – Military MEDEVAC Helicopter Night Flight And Hoist Training.” The video was uploaded by the “AiirSource Military Channel”, which, according to the channel’s description, covers events and missions from the United States Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard. The viral excerpt can be seen from the 04:18 mark.
We also came across this write-up from the official website of the United States Marine Corps, dated April 13, 2012, featuring the longer version of the viral video and stating that it was a drill undertaken by the US army to simulate some of the worst night conditions they may face while rescuing injured soldiers. The viral excerpt can be seen from the 04:21 mark, which confirms that the clip predates the Iran helicopter crash that killed the country’s president.
Also Read: Old Images Falsely Linked To Chopper Crash Killing Iranian President Raisi
Result: Partly False
Sources
X post, Turkey Defence Ministry, May 20, 2024
Youtube video, AiirSource Military Channel, March 20, 2013
Article, United States Marine Corps website, April 13, 2012
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Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
