Claim: A video shows a Rafale fighter jet of the Indian Air Force ablaze after it was shot down by Pakistan near the Line of Control (LoC), in the Poonch district of Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir.
Fact: The video is from June 2024 and shows a Sukhoi fighter jet of the Indian Air Force (IAF) that crashed likely due to a technical failure.
On 29 April 2025, a user on Facebook shared a video that allegedly showed the aftermath of a Rafale jet of the Indian Air Force being shot down by Pakistan Air Force (PAF). According to the video’s embedded caption, the aircraft crashed near the Line of Control, in the Poonch district (part of Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir).
Fact or Fiction?
To verify the authenticity of the claim, we conducted a reverse-image search of the video’s keyframes. The results revealed that it had been shared on Facebook as early as 4 June 2024. The caption of the post reads as follows:
“Bad News coming in from #Nashik. Airforce #Fighter Aircraft #Su30 MKI crashed at Shirasgaon in Nishad taluka. Pilot & Co Pilot ejected Safely. Right now it is with #HAL for overhauling. It was on training sortie. Enquiry ordered.”
Another Facebook post from 4 June 2024 also shared the video with a similar caption:
“An Indian Air Force Sukhoi fighter jet crashed in Nashik, Maharashtra today, with both pilots safely ejected before the impact.”
Taking the captions as cues, we conducted a Google search for “Indian aircraft crash Nashik”. This led us to multiple instances of Indian news outlets reporting on a Sukhoi fighter jet of the Indian Air Force that had crashed in Maharashtra’s Nashik district during a test flight. The news reports, all from 4 June 2024, stated that the pilot and co-pilot had both ejected from the aircraft on time and survived. The Hindu and NDTV stated that the pilots had reported a “technical snag” in the aircraft, while The Economic Times and Business Standard stated that preliminary information regarding the reason for the crash pointed to “technical factors”.
While these outlets shared pictures of the crash site, they did not exactly match the keyframes of the video. Hence, we searched for videos of the crash online.
On YouTube, the Indian news outlets Kadak and DNAIndia had shared videos of the crash that matched the keyframes of the video in the claim. These can be seen here and here. Both Brut India and The Free Press Journal also shared videos, the keyframes of which matched those of the video in the claim.
Moreover, as part of the keyword search, we came across fact-checks on this video by three signatories of the International Fact Checking Network (IFCN)—Fact Crescendo, India Today, and Vishvas News. All three fact-checks confirmed that the video was from June 2024, when a Sukhoi fighter jet of the Indian Air Force crashed in Maharashtra’s Nashik district. The articles by Vishvas News and Fact Crescendo verified this video in the context of claims that Pakistan allegedly shot down an Indian Rafale jet near the Poonch district of Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir (the same claim being investigated in this article). The fact-check by India Today revealed that the video had also been shared in the opposite context of a Pakistani fighter jet having been shot down by the Indian Air Force.
While this video does not show a Rafale fighter jet of the Indian Air Force (IAF) shot down by the Pakistan Air Force (PAF), it is worth noting that the latter has claimed it shot down three such aircrafts in the recent military escalations with India. This can be seen here in the Tri Services joint press conference held on 9 May 2025.
A screenshot of the presentation delivered by Air Vice Marshal Aurangzeb Ahmed can be seen below. According to Ahmed, three Rafale jets of the Indian Air Force were shot down—the first 53 NM (nautical miles) from the LoC, the second 7 NM from the LoC, and the third 23 NM from the international border.
Reuters also quoted a source that claimed Pakistan had downed at least one Rafale aircraft. In a press conference held on 11 May 2025, India’s Air Marshall A.K. Bharti neither confirmed nor denied the downing of an Indian Rafale fighter jet when “responding to reports…about [a] Rafale fighter jet downed during Operation Sindoor”.
Nonetheless, this article is not fact-checking whether a Rafale jet of the IAF was shot down by Pakistan near the LoC; it is only fact-checking the video, which is not related to the recent war.
Operation Sindoor and Pakistan’s Response
Indian airstrikes in Pakistan
In the early hours of 7 May, the Indian military launched Operation Sindoor and sent missiles at least six targets inside Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir. These missile strikes, which constituted the most serious escalation of military hostilities between the two nations since 1971, killed 40 civilians, including 15 children, and wounded 121 others according to Pakistani authorities.
India claimed that their missiles struck nine “terrorist camps” whereas Pakistan asserted that the targets chosen by India were civilian neighborhoods in densely populated areas. While it is difficult to independently ascertain whether “terrorist camps” were the target of India’s strikes, on ground footage and reporting from local hospitals showed that a number of women and children had been killed and injured in the attacks. This lends credibility to Pakistan’s assertions that civilians were harmed, contrary to claims made by Indian officials.
Notably, military strikes in Pakistani Punjab are across a recognised international border and constitute a major escalation relative to the surgical strikes carried out along the Line of Control (LoC), the ceasefire line that divides Pakistan-administered Kashmir from Indian-administered Kashmir. Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the airstrikes, saying his country had “every right to give a robust response to this act of war imposed by India”.
On 10 May 2025, United States President Donald Trump took to X (formerly Twitter) to announce that a ceasefire deal had been reached between India and Pakistan. He stated that both countries had agreed to a “full and immediate ceasefire” after a “long night of talks mediated by the United States”. Later in the day, both Pakistan’s Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar and India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri confirmed the ceasefire.
The Pahalgam Attack
The strikes carried out by India as part of Operation Sindoor were purportedly in response to the terror attack that took place in Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir on 22 April 2025, which killed 26 people, mostly tourists.
India has blamed the attacks on Pakistan whereas Pakistan has denied any involvement and demanded a neutral investigation.
The Resistance Front – a group that Indian officials maintain is a proxy front for the Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) – initially claimed responsibility for that attack but later retracted its statement.
The Indus Waters Treaty
Soon after the attack in Pahalgam, the Indian government announced the suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty. The landmark water-sharing treaty, which had been in place since 1960 had previously endured despite many instances of armed conflict between the neighbouring nuclear countries.
After a UNSC meeting to discuss the matter, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, “Now, India’s water will flow for India’s benefit, it will be conserved for India’s benefit, and it will be used for India’s progress”. On the other hand, Pakistan stated that attempts to stop or divert Pakistan’s water would be considered an “act of war and responded with full force across the complete spectrum of national power”.
Indian Jets in Pakistan
Soon after Indian missile strikes hit multiple locations in Pakistan, the Pakistani military announced that they had shot down five Indian warplanes including several Rafale Fifth Generation fighter jets. India has not yet responded directly to this claim but a growing number of media outlets have confirmed that at least some Indians planes, including at least one Rafale, did in fact go down during the early morning hours of 7 May 2025.
Drone War
On the morning of 8 May, India launched a wave of drone attacks across Pakistan, killing at least one person and wounding several. Pakistan military spokesperson claimed that 25 Indian drones were shot down in different locations across the country and on the following day claimed that the number of drones shot down had grown to 77.
At this time, Soch Fact Check has not been able to independently verify the exact number of Indian drones that entered Pakistan, or how many were shot down. Debris from drones has been found in a number of locations and Soch Fact Check has visited the two crash sites in Karachi and two in Rawalpindi.
Indian authorities claimed that the drone attacks were in response to a Pakistani attack on Amritsar the previous night whereas Pakistan denied that any attacks had been carried out. Subsequent to the drone attacks on Pakistan, India said that Pakistan carried out missile and drone attacks on Jammu in Indian Occupied Kashmir. Pakistan also denied this allegation, adding that it was “entirely unfounded, politically motivated, and part of a reckless propaganda campaign aimed at maligning Pakistan”.
Virality
On Facebook, the video has amassed 5.8 million views. It was also shared here.
On Facebook, posts claiming the video instead showed a Pakistani fighter jet downed by Indian forces, were shared here, here, here, here, here, and here.
On X, posts claiming the video showed a Pakistani fighter jet downed by Indian forces, were shared here, here, and here.
Conclusion: The video in the claim is from June 2024 and shows a Sukhoi fighter jet of the Indian Air Force that crashed likely due to a technical failure. This event has nothing to do with the recent military conflict between Pakistan and India.
—
Background image in cover photo: The War Zone