Aircraft on fire at Udhampur Air Base? Here's the truth behind social media post

A social media user recently posted a photo claiming that aircraft were on fire at Udhampur Air Base in India's Jammu and Kashmir.

The Union government on Thursday rubbished the claim and said that the Indian Air Force (IAF) does not have the aircraft shown in the photo.

“This claim is fake. The Indian Air Force does not have any such aircraft in its fleet, as seen in the photo. Nor is this Udhampur Air Force Station,” the Press Information Bureau’s (PIB) Fact Check unit said in a post on social media platform X.

It also urged people to “stay vigilant" and "rely only on official sources for authentic information”.

Pak-based accounts spreading false information

Amid heightened tensions between India and Pakistan, several false and misleading reports, videos and photos are being circulated on social media platforms by various Pakistan-based accounts.

Earlier also, the PIB unit had refuted a series of misleading claims circulating on social media, including viral reports falsely alleging that Pakistan has destroyed multiple Indian air bases.

In an X post, the PIB Fact Check said that a video broadcast by ‘AIK News’ claiming Pakistan had destroyed the Udhampur Air Base is fake.

“This video shows a fire incident at a chemical factory in Hanumangarh, Rajasthan. It’s unrelated to the current India–Pakistan situation,” the agency said.

The Udhampur base remains fully operational, it added.

Similarly, a widely circulating video purportedly showing a Pakistani strike on the Nagrota Air Base was also debunked.

“This video was originally posted on Instagram in October 2024,” the agency said.

Fake images are circulated on social media, claiming that they show the last rites of an Indian Air Force Rafale pilot who allegedly died on May 7.

However, the PIB Fact Check unit debunked this claim as "completely false" and clarified that the image is actually from 2008 and bears no relation to the claim.

"An old image is going viral on social media, with many Pakistan-based accounts claiming that it shows the last rites of a Rafale pilot of the #IndianAirForce who died on 7 May 2025. This claim is completely fake. The image is actually from 2008 and unrelated to the current context," the PIB unit wrote on X.