At least six people were killedafter two helicopters collided midair and crashed in Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro on June 14. Among the deadwere musician Oliver Tree, best known for viral hits “Alien Boy” and “Life Goes On”, and Argentine YouTuber Gaspar Prim, known online as Gaspi.
Following this, a video allegedly showing the incident went viral on social media. In the initial part of the video, we can see multiple helicopters flying at a low height, near some palm trees. Moments later, two helicopters can be seen crashing.
An X user posted this video and wrote: “Oliver tree helicopter was seen racing before death.” Its archive can be viewed here.
Several international and Indian news outlets, like The Strait Times and Navbharat Live, also used screengrabs from this video in the context of the Rio incident.
India Today Fact Check found that this video is not recent. It dates back to April 2024 when two Malaysian navy helicopters collided during a rehearsal.
OUR PROBE
A reverse search of the viral video’s frames led us to an April 23, 2024, report in the Jakarta Post. According to it, ten people were killed after two helicopters collided midair during a rehearsal for a Royal Malaysian Navy parade. This happened at the Lumut Naval Base in the state of Perak, and those killed were all crew members. The helicopters involved were an AW139 and a Fennec helicopter.
Several news outlets had reported thisat that time.
Thus, it is clear that an old video is being falsely shared in connection with the recent Rio de Janeiro crash.
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