Subscribe to our WhatsApp Channel
The tragic crash of Air India flight AI171 on 12 June 2025 in Ahmedabad left the nation in deep mourning. In the days that followed, social media was flooded with images and videos claiming to show scenes from inside the aircraft just moments before the disaster. To separate fact from fiction, we carried out a thorough verification process to examine the credibility of these visuals and uncover the real story behind them.
Social Media Posts :
Some of which claimed to show moments inside the plane before the crash. Among the most widely shared were a photo of children screaming in the cabin, supposedly from a doctor’s family in Rajasthan.
The video was shared widely on YouTube in the following manner
Another circulating image claims to be the “last photo” of former Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani taken just before the crash.
To determine the credibility of this claim, we carried out the following verification process.
Fact-Check:
AI-Generated Photo of Children Inside the Cabin
One viral image showed a dramatic scene of children and adults inside a plane cabin, allegedly captured moments before the crash. It was claimed that the photo featured a doctor’s family from Rajasthan, who were victims of the accident. The image quickly went viral, evoking grief and horror, and was widely reshared as a genuine last glimpse from inside the doomed aircraft.
However, no credible Indian or international main media Strems including The Hindu, NDTV, BBC, Reuters, or Al Jazeera has reported the existence or authentication of any such photo. No official source, including aviation investigators or the police, has confirmed the retrieval of such an image from the crash site.
Analysts pointed out several tell-tale signs:
Facial distortions and unnatural expressions, typical of AI renderings.
Cabin design, seat colors, and layout inconsistent with Air India’s Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, which features a red and beige theme.
Lack of metadata or origin tracing, a common issue with AI created media.
Analysis using multiple AI detection tools confirmed that the image was generated using artificial intelligence.
This false narrative not only misled the public but also added emotional distress in a time of national mourning.
Misleading “Last Photo” of Vijay Rupani
Another viral claim falsely alleged that former Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani’s “last photo” was taken within the crashed flight. Social media posts presented a sketched portrait of Rupani claiming it was drawn before the aircraft went down.
We found that an X (Twitter) user, Majid Ladhani, had commented on several viral posts claiming that the photo in question was old. Majid Ladhani is the State Media Head of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Daman and Diu office, giving him a credible public profile.
In his responses, Ladhani shared a screenshot of a Facebook post by a woman named Lina Goswami, who originally shared the viral photo. In the post, she mentioned that the image was taken on June 12, 2021, when she and former CM Vijay Rupani were on the same flight.
Following this, the India Today team reached out to Lina Goswami via Majid Ladhani to verify the details. Goswami confirmed that the photo was not recent and was actually taken on October 12, 2021, during her Air India flight to London. She acknowledged that she had mistakenly written “June” instead of “October” in her Facebook post. As further proof, she shared a WhatsApp screenshot with India Today, showing she sent the same image to her son on October 12, 2021. You can read India Today’s full fact-check here.
There has been speculation that the viral images might have been sourced from the aircraft’s “black boxes.” To address this, we investigated whether black boxes are capable of recording photos or video.
In reality, aircraft “black boxes” consist of two separate components:
Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR): Captures cockpit audio (pilot conversations, engine noises, alarms)
Flight Data Recorder (FDR): Logs technical flight data (speed, altitude, control inputs, etc.)
You can learn more about how black boxes work from these sources, here and here.
Neither device records still images or video footage, including any scenes from the passenger cabin. Although there have been proposals to add cockpit video recorders, these have not been implemented in commercial aircraft due to privacy and regulatory concerns .
Therefore, no genuine photo or video from inside the aircraft either of passengers or crew could originate from the black boxes. Any bona fide cabin footage would have to come from personal cameras or phones, none of which has been verified in relation to flight AI171.
Join us to learn about our investigative reporting.
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Google News | TikTok
Conclusion :
In the wake of the tragic Air India AI171 crash, a flood of misinformation has spread across social media, including misleading and misattributed images. The image of the children was confirmed to be AI-generated, based on inconsistencies in design and verified through multiple AI-detection tools. Meanwhile, the image associated with Vijay Rupani was an old captured image by a fellow passenger during a 2021 flight, as confirmed by herself.
It is also important to clarify that black boxes do not record photos or video, contrary to public assumptions. These devices are designed to capture audio from the cockpit and technical flight data, not visual footage. Any genuine image from inside the plane would need to come from a passenger’s personal device and to date, no such verified content has emerged.
Title:Viral Photos from Air India AI171 Crash Are Misleading and AI-Generated
Fact Check By: Pavithra SandamaliResult: False
