As the Hajj pilgrimage began with pilgrims travelling from various countries, a viral claim surfaced stating that a flight from Mauritania carrying 220 Hajj pilgrims, with some unverified reports mentioning 210, had crashed in the Red Sea. In response to the widespread circulation of this claim, the concerned airline publicly denied it, confirming that the news was false.
Amidst this, a photo (here, here, here, here and here) also went viral on social media, allegedly showing a crashed plane engulfed in flames with bodies scattered on the ground. It was claimed that this photo depicted the Mauritanian Hajj flight crash.
Claim: The viral photo shows a Mauritanian flight carrying 220 Hajj pilgrims that crashed into the Red Sea.
Fact: This photo is AI-generated, and the claim about a Mauritanian Hajj flight crashing has been denied by both Mauritania’s Director of Hajj and Mauritania Airlines. Hence, the claim is FALSE.
To verify the claim, we closely examined the viral photo and found several inconsistencies. The bodies shown appear to resemble dummies rather than real human casualties. Additionally, the individuals seen handling the scene — presumably security personnel or rescue workers — seem oddly structured or incomplete in some parts. The aeroplane windows also lack realistic detail and structure. These visual anomalies strongly suggest that the photo may have been generated using AI.
To determine whether the image was AI-generated or not, we ran it through two AI-detection tools — Hive and AI or Not. Both tools identified the image as a deepfake, with detection confidence scores close to 99%.
Several media outlets (here, here and here) reported that Mauritania’s Director of Hajj at the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, El Waly Taha, firmly denied the claim, confirming that all Mauritanian pilgrims were safe and had arrived in the holy lands without any incident.
Additionally, Mauritania Airlines issued an official statement on their Facebook page, labelling the news as fake. The airline clarified that it had organised three outbound flights for pilgrims on the 23rd, 24th, and 25th of May 2025 as part of the official plan to transport Mauritanian pilgrims to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. For the return journey, flights are scheduled for the 12th, 13th, and 14th of June 2025, as per the timetable coordinated with the relevant authorities.
To sum up, an AI-generated photo is being falsely shared as evidence of a fabricated Mauritanian Hajj flight crash in the Red Sea.
