Viral video of injured Pakistan pilot has nothing to do with current India-Pak conflict, Operation Sindoor
As tensions between India and Pakistan escalate, unverified visuals of military action by forces of both countries are being widely circulated on social media. One such clip shows an injured man in military uniform bearing the Pakistan flag lying on the ground. In some versions of this clip, wreckage of an aircraft in flames is also shown before visuals of the pilot. These are being shared with claims that a Pakistan Air Force pilot was injured after the aircraft he was flying was shot down by Pakistan amid India’s Operation Sindoor. Some social media users claimed that India shot down the Pakistani fighter jet JF-17 that the pilot was controlling.
The video has emerged amid the military strikes launched by India on May 7. Named Operation Sindoor, as a response to the terror attack in Kashmir’s Pahalgam on April 22 in which 26 civilians were killed, the Union ministry of defence has called the action “focused, measured and non-escalatory”. It added that the forces targeted nine sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir where terrorist activities were being planned. In response, the Pakistan Army has claimed it had shot down Indian fighter jets and vowed retaliation.
X user @MrSandeepPhogat shared the clip on May 7, claiming “Pakistani official down”. At the time of writing this, the post had 1.4 million views. (Archive)
BJP worker Sabhasad Badam Singh Kushwaha shared a longer version of a similar video on Facebook, claiming that it showed a Pakistani JF-17 fighter jet shot down by India.
X user Abhay Pratap Singh (बहुत सरल हूं) (@IAbhay_Pratap) also shared the clip and wrote in the caption: “Listen to the audio in the video… ‘Oye, bring the second pilot too’. India’s air defence system AKASH has shot down Pakistan’s F-16 and JF-17 fighter jets. Glory to the Indian Army — Jai Hind!” At the time of writing this, the post had over 750,000 views. (Archive)
More social media users had also shared this clip. Screenshots below:
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Fact Check
After breaking down the videos into several key frames, we ran a reverse image search on a few. This led us to an April 15 Facebook reel posted by a page called Narowal News Live. The reel showed smoke emerging from a field where an aircraft in flames could be seen. The reel also showed civilians gathered around the two injured pilots while some were seen attending to them. The caption of the post said: “Pakistan Air Force’s training plane crashed”. Additionally, some text in Urdu embedded in the video frame, translates to: “Pakistan Air Force training plane crashed” and “Both pilots landed safely by parachute”.
The date of the post made it clear that the visual was unrelated to the current conflict, as it predates the launch of the military strikes and the Pahalgam terror attack.
We compared the visuals of the viral clips showing the two injured pilots with footage from the reel dated April 15 and confirmed that both videos are identical. Below is a comparison.
Taking cue from this, we ran a relevant keyword search, which led us to an Instagram reel posted on April 16 that showed a burning jet that had crashed to the ground. The caption said, “On Tuesday, a Pakistan Air Force Mirage V ROSE crashed during a routine operational training sortie near Ratta Tibba, Vehari… Both pilots onboard initiated ejection procedures in time and landed safely. Rapid response and recovery units reached the site shortly after, confirming no life-threatening injuries to the crew.”
We also came across a news report by Pakistani news outlet Dawn from April 16, 2025. The report also mentioned that a Pakistani Air Force training aircraft had crashed in the fields at Ratta Tibba, Vehari, on April 15, and both pilots ejected themselves from the aircraft before it crashed and suffered minor injuries.
Alt News has already debunked the misleading claims on the crashed jet. Read: April video of Pakistani aircraft crash shared with false claims that Pak took down Indian Rafale jet
Therefore, the viral clips showing an injured Pakistan pilot and linking them to the ongoing conflict are false and baseless. The incident from which the video has been taken and presented out of context happened mid-April when a Pakistani Air Force training plane had crashed and the two pilots in it ejected themselves in time and were rescued with injuries. The clips have no relation to Operation Sindoor, launched on May 7, or the India-Pakistan conflict that spiralled after the April 22 Pahalgam attack.
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