Video Claiming to Show Moment of Raisi Helicopter Crash Actually From Republic of Georgia in 2022

Newswire by Storyful is the world’s first and only dedicated social media newswire, designed to help clients break stories and utilize user-generated news footage and viral video in their reporting. Storyful’s award-winning journalists discover, verify and license the UGC footage that helps shape the breaking news agenda.

After news broke that a helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi had gone down in a remote area of Iran’s East Azerbaijan Province the race was on to find the crash site, and compelling video of the incident. 

Shortly after Raisi’s death was confirmed, video of a dramatic helicopter crash and explosion appeared on social media and began gaining traction.

At first glance the video looked like it could have been from the May 19 incident – the mountainous terrain, the size of the helicopter. However, several key elements in the video immediately triggered a red flag for Storyful’s US Editor Dakota Flournoy.

“Firstly, the weather conditions seen in the moment-of video gave me pause. Thick fog was covering the area, as we had seen in videos from first responders who were searching for the crash site, and was conspicuously missing from this video. Secondly, given the reported remoteness of the crash site in Iran and the lengthy search to find it, was it really plausible that someone happened to be nearby to film the moment it happened?”

Flournoy quickly delved into a search for reports of previous helicopter crashes in mountainous areas and unearthed the truth: this moment-of video was actually from the crash of a Mil Mi-8 helicopter near the ski town of Gudauri, Republic of Georgia, in the Greater Caucasus Mountains on July 29, 2022.

“We pinned down the exact location and got the information out to our clients ASAP. This is at the very core of what we do here at Storyful,” Flournoy said. “When you have a really compelling video the urge to use it in reporting right away is strong, but accuracy is paramount.”

To learn more about how Newswire by Storyful can support your news coverage on a 24/7 basis, contact publishers@storyful.com today.

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