Footage of Chile wildfire falsely linked to India-Pakistan conflict
"If there is a shortage of firecrackers, take more from us son. Live from Sialkot," reads the Hindi-language caption of a video shared May 8, 2025 on Facebook, referring to a city in Pakistan's Punjab province.
The 20-second clip features a woman crying as she films flames shooting up beyond a road.
More than 60 people were killed in the worst violence between the nuclear-armed neighbours in decades before US President Donald Trump unexpectedly announced a ceasefire on social media (archived link).
Fighter jet, missile, drone and artillery strikes erupted two weeks after gunmen killed 26 people on the Indian-run side of disputed Kashmir, in an attack New Delhi blames on its arch-foe neighbour. Islamabad denies the accusations.
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Screenshot of the false post taken May 9, 2025
Similar posts surfaced on Facebook and Threads, also misrepresenting the clip that had previously been falsely linked to an attack by Iran on Israel.
AFP found it was taken during one of the deadliest fires in Chile in February 2024 that killed at least 133 people and destroyed some 7,000 homes.
A combination of reverse image and keyword searches found the video in a TikTok post from February 3, 2024 which said it showed fires in the South American nation.
The video was posted by a TikTok user called "pat_land" but later removed. AFP found an archived version of the post on the WayBack Machine archiving tool.
"Evacuating #fire #achupallas terrible to see the homes of friends and neighbours burning but even more painful to see little animals scorched to a crisp. God help us," the Spanish-language caption says.
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Screenshot of archived TikTok post taken May 9, 2025
A Spanish-speaking AFP journalist confirmed the people in the video were speaking the language.
The Achupallas neighbourhood in Chile's Vina del Mar, a seaside resort city, became engulfed by wildfires that broke out simultaneously on February 2, 2024 and took days to extinguish (archived link).
Local media outlet Citizen Action Chile shared the same TikTok video on Facebook on February 4, 2024 with the caption: "Achupallas, Viña del Mar (archived link)".
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Screenshot comparison of the clip shared in false posts (L) and the TikTok video shared on the Chilean media outlet's Facebook page
Elements in the footage of the fire, including an electricity pole, footbridge, trees and a road barrier can be seen in Google Maps street imagery of an intersection between a street called Livingstone and the Carlos Ibáñez del Campo road.
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Screenshot comparison between the images taken from TikTok video uploaded on Facebook (left and centre) and the street view taken from Google Maps (right)
AFP has debunked the wave of misinformation around the India-Pakistan crisis here.
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France 24
4 hours ago
- France 24
Gaza rescuers say Israel fire kills 36, six of them near aid centre
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Euronews
6 hours ago
- Euronews
Israel recovers body of Thai national taken by Hamas on 7 October
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Euronews
7 hours ago
- Euronews
Bolivian national football team held in Venezuela on dubious grounds
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Harold Howard, in charge of security and logistics for the team, spoke of "sabotage" by the Venezuelan regime, explaining that they were informed of an alleged problem with "air traffic" as the reason for the hold-up, despite the fact that there were only two planes landing at the time. The incident has generated outrage in the Bolivian sporting and political community, which has called on the national authorities to intervene and demand answers from the Venezuelan government. The situation has also affected the planning of the Bolivian team, which was scheduled to leave for La Paz at around 5:00 (local time) and train that afternoon ahead of Tuesday's match with Chile in El Alto. This episode adds to a series of obstacles and problems that, according to complaints, Maduro's regime has imposed on foreign delegations, displaying a lack of reliability and transparency in the treatment of visiting teams. 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It's also the same group that took the two Israeli-American hostages, Judith Weinstein and Gad Haggai, whose bodies were retrieved by the army on Thursday. Later on Saturday, the Israeli army announced that they believed to have found the body of Hamas leader Mohammed Sinwar, killed in Gaza last month. The IDF also said that four of its soldiers were killed when a building collapsed following a booby trap in southern Gaza's Khan Younis on Friday. Pinta's body was found based on information received from the hostage task force and military intelligence, the IDF explained. A statement from the hostage forum, which supports the hostages, said it stands with Pinta's family and shares in their grief. It called on the country's decision makers to bring home the remaining hostages and give those who have died a proper burial. Thais were the largest group of foreigners held captive by Hamas militants. 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Staff at Nasser hospital where six of the bodies were taken, said they were killed while on their way to get food assistance. Israel's army said Saturday that despite prior warnings that the area is an active combat zone during night time hours, several suspects attempted to approach army troops operating in the Tel al-Sultan area overnight 'in a manner that posed a threat to the troops'. The army said the troops called to drive them away but as they continued advancing they fired warning shots. The army said it was aware of reports of casualties. An army official who can't be named in line with military procedures, said the warning shots were fired approximately one kilometer from the aid distribution site.
