A video of a person being swept away by floodwaters on a highway in Karachi, Pakistan has resurfaced in social media posts falsely claiming it was filmed after latest storms in Cambodia. The footage was beforehand shared in posts saying it was filmed throughout heavy downpours in Pakistan’s largest metropolis.
“Cambodian flood,” reads the Thai-language caption of a Fb clip shared on September 1, 2025.
The footage exhibits a flooded highway and an individual falling over earlier than they’re swept away by the present.
The identical clip was additionally shared in one other Fb submit, with its superimposed Thai textual content studying: “After Cambodian individuals mocked Thailand, the storm went again to them.”
It provides that Cambodia is dealing with extreme flooding and begging Thailand for assist.
Screenshots of the false Fb posts captured on September 4, 2025, with pink Xs added by AFP
The posts surfaced following heavy rain in northwestern Cambodia; The Phnom Penh Put up reported the deluge triggered flooding, although officers mentioned the harm was not extreme (archived hyperlink).
The footage, nonetheless, doesn’t present flooding within the Southeast Asian nation.
Customers from each international locations have continued to sling insults at each other and misattribute catastrophe footage from different international locations weeks after their respective governments agreed a ceasefire to halt their bloody border clashes (archived hyperlink).
Cyber warriors have additionally daubed official web sites with obscenities, deluged opponents with spam and brought pages down (archived hyperlink).
A reverse picture search on Google utilizing keyframes from the falsely shared video led to the identical footage, flipped horizontally, posted on August 20 on the Instagram web page of Dialogue Pakistan, a citizen journalism platform (archived hyperlink).
Its English-language caption reads, “Tuesday’s heavy rainfall in Karachi led to a person being swept away by rainwater on Shahrah-e-Faisal” — referring to a significant highway in Pakistan’s largest metropolis.
Screenshot comparability of the falsely shared video (left) and the Dialogue Pakistan clip (proper)
AFP reported on August 20 that greater than 20 individuals have been killed throughout a contemporary spell of monsoon rain in Pakistan, which is among the many world’s most weak international locations to the consequences of local weather change and is more and more dealing with excessive climate occasions (archived hyperlink).
Karachi’s crumbling pipes and sewer system reportedly struggled to manage with the downpours (archived hyperlink).
Within the background of the video is a billboard promoting a meal deal from KFC, which the quick meals chain’s Pakistan franchise promoted on its official Instagram account on August 6 (archived hyperlink).
Screenshot exhibiting the commercial seen within the falsely shared video, magnified by AFP
Parts of the video additionally match Google Avenue View imagery of Shahrah-e-Faisal, close to to the Nursery Flyover, taken in April 2021 and drone video of the state of affairs on the intersection posted on YouTube on August 19, 2025 (archived right here and right here).
Corresponding components highlighted by AFP on the Dialogue Pakistan video (left) and drone footage and Google Avenue View imagery of the Nursery Flyover in Karachi (proper)
The footage was beforehand misrepresented as exhibiting flooding in India’s Jammu Metropolis, which was debunked by fact-checking organisations Truth Crescendo and Factly (archived right here and right here).
AFP has additionally debunked different false claims about Thailand and Cambodia unfold by rivals within the neighbouring international locations.
