This Facebook post with an image purportedly of two planes involved in a “near collision” in Mogadishu, Somalia, is PARTLY FALSE.

According to the text accompanying the image, the planes almost collided mid-air in the Mogadishu skies on 25 February 2024.

“Deg Deg: Laba diyaaradood oo isku dhici gaadhay, Muqdisho dusheeda maanta. Waa Fly Dubai iyo Turkish Airlines, oo midna ka kacday garoonka Muqdisho midna kusoo degeysay. (Breaking: Two airplanes almost collided mid air over the skies of Mogadishu today. The planes Fly Dubai and Turkish Airlines were taking off and landing respectively at Mogadishu Airport),” reads the text.

The image was shared as dispute over the Mogadishu Flight Information Region simmered. On 11 February 2024, the Ministry of Transport And Civil Aviation Somalia accused Somaliland of “disrupting the lines used by aircraft over parts of the airspace in northern regions of Somalia”.

A few days later, reports emerged online of a “near collision” of two planes in Somalia’s airspace over the Gulf of Aden. However, the incident reportedly involved planes operated by Qatar Airways and Ethiopian Airlines, not Turkish Airlines and Fly Dubai as claimed; here, here and here.

Details from Flightradar24 show that flights by the two airlines followed the same path over the Gulf of Aden on 24 February 2024 where the Somaliland Civil Aviation and Airports Authority claims a near collision took place; here and here.

A reverse image search shows that the image we are fact-checking predates the reported incident.

Among the search results is a post on Facebook by a user called “High Level Spotter” published on 18 February 2024.

The Facebook page links to the website of the photographer Janisch Mich, who took up plane photography as a hobby at an early age.

Mich explains that he uses a Dobson Skywatcher Telescope, a 2x Televue power converter, and a Canon 100D DSLR camera to capture images of the planes.

A scroll through his Facebook and Instagram accounts shows a catalogue of similar photographs of airborne planes.

Mich also shared the same image on his Instagram page.

The text accompanying the image indicates that it was taken on 30 December 2023, months before the claim we are fact-checking was shared.

The description adds that the planes are operated by Turkish Airlines and SunExpress, contrary to what the claim says.

The branding on the planes operated by SunExpress and Turkish Airlines is consistent with the image we are fact-checking.

Further, the description indicates that the image was taken in Riedlingsdorf in Austria, not Mogadishu, Somalia.

PesaCheck examined a Facebook post with an image purportedly of two planes involved in a near collision in Mogadishu, Somalia, and found it to be PARTLY FALSE.

This post is part of an ongoing series of PesaCheck fact-checks examining content marked as potential misinformation on Facebook and other social media platforms.

By partnering with Facebook and similar social media platforms, third-party fact-checking organisations like PesaCheck are helping to sort fact from fiction. We do this by giving the public deeper insight and context to posts they see in their social media feeds.

Have you spotted what you think is fake or false information on Facebook? Here’s how you can report. And, here’s more information on PesaCheck’s methodology for fact-checking questionable content.

This fact-check was written by PesaCheck senior fact-checker Simon Muli and edited by PesaCheck senior copy editor Cédrick Irakoze and acting chief copy editor Francis Mwaniki.

The article was approved for publication by PesaCheck’s managing editor Doreen Wainainah.

PesaCheck is East Africa’s first public finance fact-checking initiative. It was co-founded by Catherine Gicheru and Justin Arenstein, and is being incubated by the continent’s largest civic technology and data journalism accelerator: Code for Africa. It seeks to help the public separate fact from fiction in public pronouncements about the numbers that shape our world, with a special emphasis on pronouncements about public finances that shape government’s delivery of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) public services, such as healthcare, rural development and access to water / sanitation. PesaCheck also tests the accuracy of media reportage. To find out more about the project, visit pesacheck.org.

PesaCheck is an initiative of Code for Africa, through its innovateAFRICA fund, with support from Deutsche Welle Akademie, in partnership with a coalition of local African media and other civic watchdog organisations.