2008 Photo From Gujarat Falsely Shared As ‘Last Rites Of IAF Pilot’

Claim

Photo claiming to show the last rites of Indian IAF squadron leader Rohit Kataria who allegedly lost his life during Operation Sindoor.

The archived version of the post can be seen here.

Fact

Newschecker first ran a keyword search for “Rohan Kataria IAF”, which did not throw up any results, even as we came across multiple news reports, seen here and here, stating that the armed forces confirmed that all its pilots are “back home safe” after the air strikes on Pakistani air bases and other crucial targets.   

“All Indian Air Force pilots are back home safely after hitting frontline Pakistan Air Force bases inflicting heavy losses on Pakistan military, though India lost five soldiers in Operation Sindoor,” top military officials reportedly said during a press briefing on May 11.

We then ran a reverse image search, which led us to this Getty images post, dated April 16, 2008, sharing the same photo. “Indian villagers pay last respects at a mass cremation of fifteen school girls at the banks of the river Orsang in Bamroli, some 165 kms from Ahmedabad on April 16, 2008. At least 44 people, most of them children on their way to school, drowned when their bus plunged into the Narmada canal at Bodeli in the western Indian state of Gujarat,” read the caption of the photo, jointly credited to AFP. 

The same photo was part of a September 17, 2011 CNN feature article on Hindu funeral pyres, stating that the photo was from Gujarat and taken in April 2008. We came across multiple news reports from April 2008, seen here and here, stating that 44 people were killed when a bus fell into the Narmada canal at Bodeli village in Vadodara district, which further confirms that the viral image is being shared with a false claim.

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Source
Getty Images photo, April 16, 2008
CNN article, September 17, 2011