Claim: The President visited the Temple of the Tooth Relic on September 23, 2024 on a helicopter from Colombo to Kandy.
Fact: The claim is false. Mainstream media reports show footage of the President travel on a car from Colombo to Kandy.
Several social media users are sharing a claim alleging that the President-elect, Anura Kumara Dissanayake took a chopper ride from Colombo to the Temple of the Tooth Relic in Kandy on September 23, 2024 after being elected into the president’s office. These claims include video clips of an interview with the political analyst Dr Vishakha Sooriyabandara on the TV programme ‘BIG FOCUS’ on DeranaTV, showing an aerial footage, and more.
These claims were found mainly on TikTok, Facebook, and X. Links to archived posts can be found here, here, and here.
Newschecker decided to check the authenticity of these viral claims due to previous promises made by Dissanayake that he would not use public resources such as Air Force helicopters for his personal purposes if he becomes President.
Fact check/Verification
Newschecker team first did a keyword search of the words ‘President’, ‘’Anura Kumara Dissanayake’, ‘Sri Lanka’, ‘Helicopter’, ‘Kandy’, and ‘Temple’ both in Sinhala and English.
We found an announcement by the President’s media division about his visit to the Temple but no mention is made of his mode of transport.
We then located the full interview done by Dr Sooriyabandara on 24 September on the programme ‘BIG FOCUS’ on DeranaTV’s YouTube channel. She was interviewed in her capacity as an academic and a political analyst on Sri Lankan politics, and can be heard speaking about the interim period between the two terms of the outgoing president, and the president-elect taking over.
In the interview, Dr Sooriyabandara does, in fact, say that after the ceremony, “according to her knowledge”, Dissanayake took two helicopters from Colombo to Kandy to seek blessings from the Temple of the Tooth Relic and adds that this level of security and resources are given to any President of the country despite what Dissanayake may have promised during his campaign.
On researching further, Newschecker could not find any footage from the visit to back up Dr Sooriyabandara’s claim. Newschecker instead came across footage from multiple mainstream media channels which showed Dissanayake visiting the Temple by car.
Newschecker further found a clarification by the Air Force, that no aircraft were used by the President on his visit to Kandy.
Aviation Voice, the main outlet for aviation-related information posted the following on 25 September:
The post specifies that the President used a Defender vehicle and not a helicopter for his travel.
Conclusion
The President visited the Temple of the Tooth Relic on 23 September via a car and not a helicopter as is being widely claimed.
Result: False
Our sources
Self-analysis
News report by the President’s Media Division, dated September 23, 2024
‘BIG FOCUS’ interview with Dr. Vishaka Sooriyabandara on DeranaTV, dated September 24, 2024
News report by Daily Mirror Online, dated September 23, 2024
News report by The Morning, dated September 23, 2024
News report by NewsFirst Sri Lanka on Sirasa TV, dated September 23, 2024
Facebook post by Aviation Voice, dated September 25, 2024
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