Lighthouse Journalism came across a video being widely shared on social media platforms, especially X (formerly Twitter). The video claimed that the fighter jet crash was recent.
During the investigation, we found that the video was old and not related to the recent India-Pakistan tensions.
Claim:
X user Wardah Hashmi shared the video with the misleading claim.
Other users are also sharing the video with the same claim.
Investigation:
We started the investigation by checking the recent news reports.
An IAF Jaguar jet had crashed in Jamnagar on April 3, 2025.
One pilot was killed when a Jaguar fighter jet of the Indian Air Force (IAF), which was on a routine sortie, crashed near Jamnagar late on Wednesday (April 2, 2025), official sources confirmed.
We found a better version of this video posted on YouTube 12 years ago.
We found another video posted on the Instagram handle officers_mind on February 20, 2024.
Caption said: On 16 Feb 2010, Wing Commander Oswald de Abreu was tasked to carry out an operational mission from Air Force station Hashimara to Bagdogra. Wg Cdr Oswald took off in his MiG-27 fighter aircraft from Air Force Station Hashimara, but within minutes, he reported a fire in the engine and crashed within the airbase at about 2.15 pm.
We found a news report on news18.com.
The report said: A MiG-21 aircraft of the Indian Air Force crashed on Tuesday near the Halwara air base in Punjab, but the pilot ejected safely out of the cockpit, said an IAF spokesperson. The air force lost a MiG-27 fighter on February 16 when it crashed near Hashimara in West Bengal. Wing Commander Oswald de Abreu, who was flying the plane, died in the crash.
Conclusion: An old video of a MiG-27 crash is now being shared as recent, with claims of an IAF fighter jet crash during a recent drill. The viral claim is misleading.
