Tensions that had long existed between Cambodia and Thailand finally erupted into an open conflict. A video of an aircraft crash in Thailand is going viral on the web post-airstrikes between Thailand and Cambodia. A channel on YouTube with the name ‘sadlife9862’ shared the video with the caption “F-16 Siam”.
Another YouTube channel named ‘warofhero’ shared the same video with the description “Thai Fighter Jet F-16 got shot down by Cambodian army”.
Fact Check
At DFRAC, we analyzed the viral video in detail and ascertained that the viral video is misleading. When we did a search on the keyframes of the viral video on google images, we found the same video uploaded by ‘Kanal13’ on You-tube. The channel uploaded that video on 24 May 2025 with the caption “Police helicopter crashes in Thailand all the crew members die”.
There is also an article by ‘The Straits Times’ titled, “Three killed in Thai police helicopter crash”. The article was also published on 24 May 2025.
An article by ‘The Nation’ came out when we tried searching for the viral statement on the internet. The date of publication of the article is 24 July 2025. It is titled “RTAF disavows Cambodian media reports that F-16 was shot down, confirms safe landing after mission”. The article also states that, the Royal Thai Air Force confirms that all the F-16s had returned home without casualties after performing a mission aimed at destroying a Cambodian brigade.
Conclusion
Therefore, the information collected and obtained by all the facts proves that the viral video is misleading and the claim is fake. The involved video is of the Thai police helicopter crash which happened on 24 May 2025 and it has no relation to the recent violent airstrikes between Thailand and Cambodia.
