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| - Fact Check: Man clinging on to a wing and a prayer? No, there is a catch
A video of a person lying on the turbine engine of a flying aircraft is going viral on social media with the claim that it is an Afghan citizen trying to flee his country after Taliban occupation. India Today's AFWA investigated the claim and found it to be false.
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India Today Fact Check
The video was created digitally by a graphic designer from Vietnam named Mai Xuan Huy. It is, however, true that many people clung on to aircraft leaving Kabul airport and some even fell to their death.
Most of us have seen heart-wrenching visuals of terrified Afghans attempting to cling on to planes leaving Kabul airport to escape marauding Taliban forces. Two people even fell from the sky and lost their lives after the flight took off. Media reports say the men had tied themselves to the wheels of the aircraft.
Meanwhile, a video of a person lying on the turbine engine of a flying aircraft is going viral on social media. It is being said that the video shows an Afghan citizen trying to flee his country after Taliban occupation.
A Facebook page posted the video with the caption, “Citizens of Afghanistan scared of TB occupation hugging deaths and riding on the wings of the Airplane.”
India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found that the video was created digitally. It is, however, true that thousands of people have been swamping Kabul airport, camping on the runways and even attempting to cling on to aircraft in a desperate bid to leave Afghanistan.
AFWA probe
We noticed that in the comment section, several people pointed out that the video is old and not related to Afghanistan.
A reverse search of the keyframes led us to a Pinterest video in which a person is seen sitting on a chair on a flying aircraft and having a drink! The video was watermarked ‘Huy Qun Hoa’.
We found that Mai had posted the viral video on Facebook on August 17, 2020, with a caption in Vietnamese that roughly translates to, “Experience the reclining seats of Vietnam”.
On Mai’s Facebook page, we found the link to his Youtube channel. Here, the viral clip was posted in December 2020 along with a couple of other clips, in which the guy in the viral video is seen sitting, lying, working on a computer, and even cooking on the turbine engine!
Vietnamese media describe Mai as ‘Photoshop Saint’
According to a Philippines website, these airplane videos by Mai had gone viral on social media in March 2020. This creative effort by Mai provided comic relief to people who were fed up with living in confinement due to the pandemic.
As per Vietnamese website “Zing News”, Mai is popular as ‘photoshop saint’ in Vietnam.
Hence, it is clear that the viral video is at least a year old and in no way related to the ongoing crisis in Afghanistan. It was created digitally by graphic designer Mai Xuan Huy from Vietnam.
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