The same video was shared with a similar false claim on TikTok here And here; and Facebook here.
The messages circulated online after northern Thailand was hit hard by flash floods Typhoon Yagi stormed through Southeast Asia in early September, killing more than 700 people (archived link).
Northern Thailand was hit hard; one district in Chiang Rai on the border with Myanmar reported this worst floods in 80 years (archived link).
However, the video was shot in North India in July 2024.
Flood India
A reverse image search on Google using one of the video’s keyframes found an article published by Hindi-language newspaper Amar Ujala on July 31, 2024 (archived link).
According to the Hindi-language report, a truck was swept away by strong currents after a downpour in India’s northern city of Haridwar. No one was in the car when the incident happened, police said.
The article too including the same clip shared on the newspaper’s X account (archived link).
In the clip, local bystanders can be seen on the right side of the footage, and someone can be heard saying the name of a Hindu god about ten seconds into the video.
Below is a screenshot comparison between the clip in the fake post (left) and the clip shared on Amar Ujala’s X account (right):
By enlarging the clip, AFP discovered the words “All India Permit” on the front of the truck – a reference to a mandatory permit for commercial vehicles transporting goods in the South Asian country.
Below is a screenshot of the clip with the words highlighted by AFP:
Local media, including the Navbharat Times And Indian television shared the excerpt in their reports on the same incident (archived links here And here).
Haridwar, a pilgrimage site in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand, experienced significant flooding after days of persistent rain in late July 2024, according to local media (archived link).
AFP reported that monsoon rains caused flash floods that killed thirteen people in Uttarakhand (archived link).
AFP has debunked disinformation about Thailand’s September 2024 floods here, here And here.
