The video features passengers chanting an Islamic prayer on board a plane, with oxygen masks deployed, followed by footage of the plane’s wreckage, a memorial, and people paying tribute at an airport terminal. The misleading social media posts claimed that the video captured the last moments of the Azerbaijan Airlines crash. Similar false claims were made linking the video to another aviation disaster in South Korea, where a plane crash killed 179 people on December 29, 2024.

The video, however, dates back to September 2024, when it was first shared as part of news reports covering a technical malfunction on Air  flight AH 3018. This flight, bound for Istanbul, was forced to return to Algiers after experiencing a malfunction shortly after takeoff. The video, showing passengers panicking and prayer chants, was part of coverage detailing the incident. A reverse image search confirmed the footage’s origin, tracing it back to a Facebook post by an Algerian traffic information site on September 23, 2024.

In the false claims circulating in December 2024, the video was inaccurately linked to the Azerbaijan Airlines disaster. However, further investigation showed that the footage from the crash site, memorials, and tributes had been added to the video after it was initially recorded, adding to the confusion.

This highlights the danger of misinformation spreading online, especially in the aftermath of tragic events.