Photo shows crashed Myanmar army chopper in 2022, not 2025

After local media in Myanmar reported that anti-junta forces shot down a military helicopter, an old photo of a crashed aircraft resurfaced in posts that falsely claimed it showed the downed chopper. The photo in fact shows a military helicopter that crashed in western Myanmar in March 2022.

The image of a crashed helicopter on a hillside was shared on Facebook on May 20, 2025.

"The result of a grilled dragonfly in Bhamo (20/5 - 1:00 pm)," reads its Burmese-language caption, using local slang for a military helicopter and referring to a city in Myanmar's northern Kachin state.

The image circulated after local media said two military helicopters had been shot down, reportedly by the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) in northern Myanmar on May 20 (archived links here and here).

According to local media, the KIA resumed attacks on Myanmar's ruling military junta following a quake-rehabilitation truce throughout Kachin State, Northern Shan State and Sagaing Region (archived link).

The junta had initially declared a truce in the country's many-sided civil war after a huge quake in late March killed nearly 3,800 and left tens of thousands homeless (archived link).

Combat in the civil war is largely confined to the countryside and smaller settlements, although sporadic grenade and gun attacks on police and junta-affiliated targets are regularly reported in the largest city Yangon.

The same image circulated in similar posts elsewhere on Facebook here, here and here.

But the photo has circulated online since March 2022.

A reverse image search on Google found the same photo was used in a report titled "Five injured after a military helicopter crashed on a mountainside in Hakha", which was published by Chinese state news agency Xinhua's Burmese-language edition on March 29, 2022 (archived link).

The photo caption reads: "Scene of the military helicopter that crashed in Hakha today (MRTV)".

Hakha is the capital of Chin State, nearly 800 km southwest of Bhamo in Kachin State.

The report says the military helicopter was carrying exam papers when it crashed on a mountainside "due to a strong wind".

The same photo was also used in a report by Myanmar’s state-run broadcaster Myanmar International TV on March 29, 2022 (archived link).

"Helicopter accident: Tatmadaw helicopter accident near Hakha airport confirmed," reads the report's title, using the military's Burmese name.

Other local media also covered the crash here and here (archived here and here).

AFP previously debunked a similar claim that shared a photo from the same crash as a helicopter shot down by anti-junta fighters here.