Concocted a conspiracy
One internet user recalled the crash of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 on her Facebook page and shared a conspiracy theory. According to her, a well-known AIDS researcher who was supposedly going to announce that the disease was man-made died in the crash.
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The Malaysia Airlines flight 17 (MH17/MAS17) plane was shot down on July 17, 2014, while flying over Eastern Ukraine. All 283 passengers and 15 crew members died.
This happened because a world-class AIDS researcher, Dr. Joep Lange, who was allegedly going to announce that HIV was a man-made disease, was on board the plane,” the woman claimed.
AIDS researchers died in the crash
Flight MH17 was an international flight from Amsterdam to the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur.
On July 17, 2014, between 13:20 and 13:25, the Boeing 777-200ER 9M-MRD crashed and broke apart. All 298 people on board, including 80 children and 15 crew members, died.
The wreckage of the plane spread over an area of 35 square kilometers near the city of Torez in the Donetsk region of Ukraine. This territory was controlled by pro-Russian separatists, and fighting with the Ukrainian army was taking place nearby, which complicated the investigation on site.
It is true that dozens of AIDS researchers were on this plane. Among them was one of the most famous disease researchers in the world, activist Joep Lange. He worked in this field from the very beginning of the virus’s emergence, participated in clinical trials, and trained specialists in developing countries.
Some passengers were traveling to an international AIDS conference. They had a connecting flight, and the final destination was Melbourne, where the meeting was held.
The conference organizers confirmed that at least six delegates died in the plane crash. Initially, it was reported that the flight took about 100 scientists and participants’ lives. Later, the International AIDS Society (IAS) president confirmed that there were six researchers on the plane and denied that there could have been about 100.
However, there is no evidence that the researcher wanted to reveal any secret, and claims that HIV was man-made are just conspiracy theories.
Of the 298 people on the plane, 173 were Dutch citizens, as well as 44 Malaysians and 28 Australians, passengers from Indonesia, Germany, Belgium, the Philippines, the United Kingdom, and Canada.
Who is responsible for the crash?
In 2025, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that Russia was responsible for shooting down the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 plane. This was the first time an international court recognized Moscow as responsible for this tragedy.
It also decided that Russia did not conduct any investigation, did not cooperate with the international investigation, actively interfered with it, and did not provide any legal remedies to the victims.
The United Nations Aviation Council also recognized Russia as responsible for the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight last year.
However, falsehoods about the alleged real culprit of the crash continue to be spread on social networks.
Also read: All evidence confirms Russia’s role in the MH17 flight plane crash, but there are still those who do not believe it
The Dutch investigation found that the Boeing 777-200ER was shot down by a Russian-made surface-to-air missile.
In 2014, the Dutch Safety Board (DSB) published a preliminary investigation report. It concluded that until the end of the black box recordings, there was no evidence of any technical or operational failures of the aircraft or crew. “Damage to the front fuselage and cockpit area indicates that the aircraft was hit by multiple high-energy objects from outside,” the document noted.
The final technical report was published in 2015. It concluded that the crash was caused by a “Buk 9M38” series surface-to-air missile with a 9N314M warhead. It exploded outside the cockpit, its fragments killed three people inside the cockpit and damaged the flying plane.
In 2016, some findings of the criminal investigation were published. It was conducted by a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) composed of the Netherlands, Australia, Malaysia, Belgium, and Ukraine.
The team announced the same conclusion – the plane was shot down by a “Buk 9M38” missile launched from separatist-controlled territory. They also indicated a possible attack location – near Pervomaisk. It was established that the 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade’s “Buk” system was brought from Russia on the same day and later returned without one missile.
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The Dutch and Australian governments issued a joint statement in 2018, naming Russia responsible for involvement in the air disaster.
Based on this investigation’s results, the Dutch prosecution charged four suspects with participation in shooting down the Malaysia Airlines plane.
The Russian government has repeatedly denied involvement in the plane’s downing. The information it provided about the incident not only differed from publicly released data but also changed over time.
AIDS, HIV: where did they come from?
HIV is the human immunodeficiency virus that damages the immune system. It causes AIDS – acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, manifested by severe infections, tumors, and other diseases that a healthy immune system would normally defend against.
Over the decades, various conspiracy theories have emerged claiming the virus was man-made. It was falsely explained that it was created by the US Central Intelligence Agency, the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany. It was also speculated that the virus escaped from a laboratory, was spread through certain ethnic groups, found in drinking water, etc. But this is not true. There is also no evidence that the well-known AIDS researcher wanted to reveal this secret.
Scientists believe that HIV originally came from a virus that was widespread among chimpanzees in West Africa in the 1920s and was initially transmitted to humans through blood during hunting. Over several decades, the virus spread across the African continent and other parts of the world.
The world learned about HIV and AIDS only in the early 1970s when doctors noticed rare cases of pneumonia, cancer, and other illnesses.
In 1981, US scientists published the first clinical evidence of the disease later known as AIDS. Its cause – HIV – was identified in 1983.
As previously explained in detail by 15min, apes – chimpanzees and gorillas living in West and Central Africa – sometimes get infected with the so-called Simian Immunodeficiency Virus (SIV).
In 1999, scientists found that the SIV variant found in chimpanzees is genetically very similar to the most common HIV variant found in humans.
Also read: How AIDS originated and how many people in Lithuania have this disease?
Therefore, many HIV researchers now believe that SIV existed for a long time in monkey populations and was accidentally transmitted to humans sometime in the early 20th century. This most likely happened in the territory of the present-day Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
It is impossible to say exactly how the virus was transmitted to humans, but the most realistic version is the “hunter” theory. According to this version, hunters living in the current DRC territory, having no other food source, hunted and ate chimpanzees.
When exactly the first infection occurred is unknown, but most likely in the second half of the 19th century to the first half of the 20th century, most probably around 1920. It is likely that the infected hunter later moved to live in a city and spread the virus more widely through sexual contact.
As explained by the independent site “Aidsmap,” which publishes news about HIV and AIDS, there are two HIV variants – HIV-1 and HIV-2. The first is the most common and closely related to SIV. The second is related to the SIV variant found in monkeys.
According to Aidsmap, one of the factors that contributed to the spread of HIV in Central Africa in the 1950s was the frequent use of used, non-sterile needles and syringes during treatment. Due to increased unemployment, prostitution also spread. In addition, the virus itself evolved, changed, and became easier to transmit.
Many, though not all, human viruses “jumped” from animals. Among the viruses that moved from animals to humans are measles, type A flu, Ebola virus, HIV, SARS, dengue, and many others.
15min verdict: falsehood. There is no evidence that HIV was man-made. Scientists agree that the virus was transmitted from animals to humans. Therefore, it is unlikely that the well-known AIDS researcher planned to contradict the general scientific consensus and announce that the virus was artificially created. There is also no evidence that the plane crash was related to a conspiracy against this researcher. As confirmed by thorough investigations, Russia is responsible for the air disaster.
Publication prepared by 15min in cooperation with Meta, aiming to stop the spread of misleading news on social networks. More about the program and its rules – here.
