Claim: A photo of an abandoned aeroplane underwater has gone viral, with social media users claiming it is the Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 that disappeared in 2014.
Verdict: False. The photo was extracted from a recently uploaded video online. Moreover, no credible media outlet has published the information.
Full Text
Photos of an abandoned aeroplane have gone viral on various social media platforms, with users claiming it is the Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. According to them, the plane, which has since 2014 gone missing with over 230 people onboard, has been found.
“Malaysia Airplane MH370 that disappeared 9 years ago has been found under ocean with no human skeleton. The plane had 239 passengers on board,” the caption of a number of these posts, which can be found here, here, and here, read.
Verification
Considering that the disappearance of MH370 made headlines on major news platforms, we would expect that the situation would be the same if the plane had been found. However, no such report was made when DUBAWA Ghana checked with some news wire services such as BBC and CNN.
We also ran a reverse image search of the image posted online, leading us to various similar images. One such image was in the photo library of iStock.
Our search later led us to a video Deep Blue Dive Centre uploaded on Instagram on April 6, 2023.
“Tristar Airplane Wreck,” the caption of the video reads, later adding, “This is an artificial reef. The plane was scuttled in 2019.”
Conclusion
It is not true that the Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 has been found. The photo going viral is from an unrelated event.
