The photo shows the burned wreckage of a plane crash in Japan, not the Jeju Air crash in South Korea

A few hours after the Jeju Air plane crashed into flames, killing 179 people in South Korea’s worst plane crash, a photo of the burnt plane was shared on social media claiming to be falsely showing debris. . This photo actually shows the wreckage of a Japan Airlines plane that went up in flames after it collided with a coast guard plane in January 2024.

The photo was shared on Facebook on December 30, 2024, with the caption “Tragic Plane Crash in South Korea”.

“More than 100 lives have been lost after a Jeju Air plane crashed at Muan International Airport. Thoughts and prayers for the victims and their families,” the post said.

The photo, showing the charred wreckage of the passenger plane on the side of the runway, was shared a day after the fatal Jeju Air crash (link saved).

Jeju Air Flight 2216 from Thailand crashed while trying to make an emergency landing, crashed into a wall and burst into flames. All but two of the 181 passengers and crew on board died.

South Korea has ordered a “comprehensive inspection” of all Boeing 737-800 aircraft operated by the country’s carriers (link saved).

U.S. air safety officials and employees of a beleaguered aircraft manufacturer have joined investigators investigating South Korea’s worst air disaster, which officials initially blamed on a bird strike.

The same photo was shared alongside similar captions elsewhere on Facebook here, here and here, and commenters on the post seem to believe it depicts the tragedy of the Jeju Air crash.

“So sad. What a tragedy,” one user wrote.

Another commented: “What a terrible crash.”

The picture, is not related to the accident.

The crash of the Japanese plane

A reverse image search on Google led to the same image used in the article “How Japan Airlines crew led 367 passengers to safety from a burning plane”, published by global news agency Reuters on January 4, 2024 (archived link).

The photo caption reads: “Aerial view shows a damaged Japan Airlines’ (JAL) Airbus A350 after a collision with a Japan Coast Guard aircraft at Haneda International Airport in Tokyo, Japan on January 3, 2024, in this photo taken by Kyodo. Credit Kyodo/via REUTERS.”

Five of the six crew members on the small patrol plane died in the incident but all 379 people on board the Japan Airlines flight were evacuated before it engulfed in flames (archived link).

Below is a screenshot comparison of the image used in the fake post (left) and in the Reuters article (right):

The image was also used in similar reports by the South China Morning Post and the Guardian newspapers (archived here and here).

Closer analysis of the image shows that the plane has the registration “JA13XJ” on its right wing, which Flightradar24 and Plane Spotters identify as belonging to the Japan Airlines Airbus A350 involved in the crash at Haneda Airport (archived here and here).

AFP has released false information about the plane crash here and there.