ABP Ananda shows Philadelphia plane crash scene as aftermath of INS Vikrant strike in Karachi

As the conflict between India and Pakistan escalated rapidly on May 8, a 37-second-long clip went viral on social media, claiming to show the situation in Pakistan after the Indian armed forces reportedly hit various strategic locations in the country. The clip depicts an open area with several parked cars, engulfed in flames and chaos, possibly caused by explosions. The video also has a voiceover imposed on it where a man could be heard announcing in Hindi/Urdu: “Take your kids and the elderly, lock your home and move towards the road ahead…”

Bengali news channel ABP Ananda played the above-mentioned video during their live broadcast. The viral clip appears at the 5:08 mark in the video attached below. While the clip is being played, the anchor can be heard saying, “Right now you are seeing visuals from Karachi, it has been completely destroyed…” Another anchor mentions that this shows the attack that INS Vikrant has carried out. (Archive)

The Bengali news outlet also used screengrabs from the same footage in their news report and their live news thread. The image carried in their news report was later replaced with a photo of INS Vikrant. (Archive 1, 2)

Click to view slideshow.

A screengrab of the viral clip was also shared on ABP Ananda’s official X account with a caption that said: “BIG BREAKING: Major action by INS Vikrant, massive explosion, Karachi devastated, consecutive attacks by India”. The account later edited the tweet, replacing the screengrab from the viral clip with an image of the Pakistani flag. (Archive)

The same video has been shared by several X handles.

X user Naina Yadav (@NAINAYADAV_06), who claims to be a journalist on their X bio, shared the viral clip on May 8 and mentioned in the caption: “Jinnah Market Road Lahore completely destroyed #IndiaPakistanWar”. (Archive)

Several other users such as @IndiaTales7, @JaipurDialogues, @mkr4411, @wokeflix_, @iSinghApurva, @SonOfBharat7, @KreatelyMedia, @madhur_panktiya, shared the viral clip amplifying the claim that it depicted destruction in Pakistan after an Indian attack. Several of these posts are wildly viral, and some of them have received views in the millions.

Readers should also note that most of these users have often been found amplifying misinformation in the past.

Click to view slideshow.

Fact Check

To verify this claim, we broke down the viral clip into several keyframes and ran a reverse image search on a few of them. This led us to a post on Threads posted on February 1, 2025, which carried an image that had similar visuals as the viral clip. The caption said: “Another crash … 🥵 Reports suggest a medical transport Learjet twin-engine jet aircraft has crashed in a populated area of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the United States. Three buildings in the area are reportedly damaged.”

Taking a cue from this, we conducted a relevant keyword search, which led us to a YouTube Short uploaded on February 1. At the 25-second mark, the exact visuals seen in the viral clip appear in this video. In the description box of the video, it was mentioned that the visuals were from a plane crash that happened in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

 

In the viral clip, the person recording appears to be entering a Dunkin’ Donuts outlet. Although the footage is somewhat unclear, a Dunkin’ Donuts signboard is briefly visible. Based on the presence of the outlet and the shape and colour of the signage, it can be identified.

We geolocated the Dunkin’ Donuts outlet and confirmed that the location of the viral clip is indeed from Philadelphia.

Therefore, the viral clip claiming to show destruction in Pakistan due to INS Vikrant’s military action is actually three-month old and from Philadelphia.

The post ABP Ananda shows Philadelphia plane crash scene as aftermath of INS Vikrant strike in Karachi appeared first on Alt News.

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