Image of archaeological remains in Italy falsely linked to S.Korea plane crash

Following the Jeju Air disaster that left 179 people dead in South Korea, reports emerged about a couple thought to have shared an embrace at the moment of the crash. The discovery of their remains sparked online discussion, with a photo of a pair of skeletons appearing to be holding each other spreading on social media. The image, however, is unrelated and was in fact taken at an archaeological site in Italy.

“The body of the bride was intact, but they could only find teeth from the groom, who was hugging the bride in their last moments,” read a Korean-language Facebook post from January 6, 2025.

It included a collage showing a pair of skeletons in an apparent embrace — with one of the skeleton’s teeth circled in red — alongside a picture of the Jeju Air wreck taken by South Korea’s Yonhap news agency (archived link).

Screenshot of the misleading claim shared on Facebook. Captured January 14.

The post appeared to reference a January 3 report by South Korea’s Herald Economy about a young couple who perished in the Jeju Air crash on December 29, the worst-ever aviation disaster on South Korean soil (archived link).

According to the article, the woman’s body was discovered relatively intact while only the man’s teeth were found, prompting speculation that he protected her with an embrace at the moment of the crash.

The Boeing 737-800 was flying from Thailand to Muan, South Korea, carrying 181 passengers and crew when it belly-landed at Muan airport and exploded in a fireball after slamming into a concrete barrier. All but two on board survived.

While the post included a comment linking to a report from website Newspic saying the image was unrelated to the crash, many social media users still appeared to have been misled.

“This image melted my heart, I feel so sorry for the victims’ families,” one commented.

“Such a tragic story, but it looks like more than the teeth were found,” another another.

Similar posts featuring the picture were also shared elsewhere on Facebook here, here, here and here.

‘Lovers of Valdaro’

A reverse search on Google found various reports indicating the picture shows the “Lovers of Valdaro” — a pair of human skeletons discovered in 2007 at a Neolithic tomb near Mantua in northern Italy (archived link).

A matching photo taken from a similar angle, credited to The Associated Press news agency, was published in reports by NBC and the BBC at the time of the skeletons’ discovery in February 2007 (archived here and here).

Below is a screenshot comparison between the image shared in the misleading Facebook posts (left) and a photo of the same skeletons in a 2007 NBC report, credited to The Associated Press (right):

The discovery was surprising due to the rarity of double burials and the couple’s unique pose and positioning, according to an Archaeology magazine report published by the Archaeological Institute of America (archived link).

An examination of the bones determined that they belonged to a man and woman who were no more than 20 years old, it added.

AFP previously debunked multiple false claims about the Jeju Air crash, including here and here.

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