Fake Photo: Malaysia Airlines Flight 17

An image circulating on social media allegedly shows part of the wreckage of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17.

The photo is fake.

Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 was shot down by a surface-to-air missile on July 17, 2014, killing all 298 persons on board. The Boeing 777 went down in a field in rebel-held territory of eastern Ukraine. The photo below has been circulated as a dramatic shot of the wreckage.

Source Photo

The photo above does not show MH 17. It is actually a still photo from the first episode of the television series LOST which ran from 2004 until 2010. See the original below.

That series detailed the lives of passengers of Oceanic Flight 815. Actor Matthew Fox can be seen in the suit in front of the wreckage.

The photo above was clearly taken on a beach (LOST was filmed on the Hawaiian island of Oahu), while MH 17 crashed in a field nowhere near a tropical beach. The photo below shows actual wreckage of the downed plane as reported in the early hours by Reuters.

First pictures from crash scene of Malaysia Airlines #MH17 in Ukraine Live blog http://t.co/t9D5LbQX63 pic.twitter.com/QQE8xVodkS

— Reuters Pictures (@reuterspictures) July 17, 2014

This is not the first time social media users have passed around fake images of downed craft. When Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 disappeared in March 2014, similar fake photos and hoaxes circulated about that plane. You can read about several of those hoaxes here.

Bottom Line

The photo showing part of the fuselage of Malaysian Flight 17 on a beach is fake. It is a doctored image from the series premiere of the 2004 television series LOST. Real photos of the downed plane show that the craft came to rest in a field in eastern Ukraine.