What was claimed
A video shows “severe turbulence” on board a Singapore Airlines flight from London this week.
Our verdict
False. The video actually dates from 2019 and shows turbulence on a flight from Kosovo to Switzerland.
Turbulence video not from Singapore Airlines flight
22 May 2024
A video is being widely shared on social media alongside reports of “severe turbulence” on a Singapore Airlines flight on which one person died and others were injured.
The incident described occurred on 21 May. But the clip is of an unrelated incident in 2019.
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What happened on the Singapore Airlines flight?
A plane flying from London to Singapore was diverted to Bangkok on Tuesday 21 May after it “encountered severe turbulence en-route”. A 73-year-old British man, Geoffrey Ralph Kitchen, is reported to have died and dozens of people have been taken to hospital for injuries.
Singapore Airlines said there were 211 passengers and 18 crew on board the Boeing 777-300ER aircraft.
Where does the video come from?
The video circulating online appears to have been filmed by a plane passenger as turbulence causes a flight attendant to hit the ceiling, luggage to spill from overhead compartments and people can be heard screaming.
It has been shared with the caption: “Boeing again. One person is dead and others are injured after a Singapore Airlines flight from London struck ‘severe turbulence’ and was forced to make an emergency landing in Bangkok.”
However, the video does not show this flight. It was actually filmed on an ALK Airlines flight from Pristina in Kosovo to Basel in Switzerland in 2019.
The clip was shared by Sky News on 17 June 2019 with the caption: “This is the moment a flight attendant was thrown to the ceiling of the plane after violent turbulence. Ten people had minor injuries on the flight from Pristina to EuroAirport Basel.”
It was also shared in reports by ABC and Euronews at the time.
We often see images and videos being shared on social media with claims they show other places or times, especially in the wake of significant breaking news stories like this. For example, earlier this week we wrote about two images being shared with false claims they showed the wreckage of the helicopter carrying Iran’s President, Ebrahim Raisi,
It’s important to consider whether something shows what it claims to before sharing it online. Our guides on spotting misleading images and videos may help you do this.
Image courtesy of vmarta
This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as false because the footage dates from 2019 and does not show a recent Singapore Airlines flight.