{"id":3929,"date":"2022-07-15T14:56:39","date_gmt":"2022-07-15T14:56:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/srilanka.factcrescendo.com\/english\/?p=3929"},"modified":"2022-07-15T19:08:30","modified_gmt":"2022-07-15T19:08:30","slug":"2016-image-shared-as-a-recent-one-captured-inside-grs-flight-to-singapore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/srilanka.factcrescendo.com\/english\/2016-image-shared-as-a-recent-one-captured-inside-grs-flight-to-singapore\/","title":{"rendered":"Image of Gotabaya Rajapaksa inside the flight – Maldives to Singapore? Find out the Truth\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who had left the country amidst ongoing political and economic chaos, has now officially resigned as the president of Sri Lanka. He first travelled to Maldives in the early hours of 13th<\/sup> July and then boarded a flight to Singapore, which incidentally was reported as the most tracked flight on 14th<\/sup> July.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As many were curious about Gotabaya Rajapaksa\u2019s whereabouts, we noticed an image of him, seated inside a flight to be viral among social media users, claiming to be recent scenes. However, our investigation found this to be an old image!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Social Media Posts<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

An image was viral on 14th<\/sup> evening in Sri Lanka, claiming to be a capture inside the Saudi Arabia flight, which the outgoing president had taken, to arrive in Singapore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cSri Lankan President in exile G rajapaksha seen in the flight to Singapore from Maldives.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Post with the same image were viral on Facebook too<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Facebook<\/a> | Archived<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interestingly, MP Udaya Gammanpila, a former minister and a key figure of the SLPP, who later on was one of the first to become an independent MP few months ago, was also seen in the flight. Therefore many had assumed this image to be an old image.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hence, we decided to investigate this viral image and find its origins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fact Check<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

First, we did a Google Reverse Image Search and the search results led us to the original image from December 2016. The image was in fact published in the official page of Gotabaya Rajapaksa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The photo along with a snap of Mount Fuji in Japan was published with the caption \u201cOn way to <\/em>#Nagoya<\/em><\/a> with breathtaking view of Mount Fuji. Look forward to meeting the Sri Lankan community in the evening \u2013 GR\u201d <\/em>on 16th<\/sup> December 2016 as seen below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n