Video shows high tide at India's Minicoy island in 2017, not effects of Cyclone Biparjoy in 2023

This article is more than one year old.
Published on July 3, 2023 at 09:52
3 min read
By Anuradha PRASAD, AFP India

Footage of waves pummelling what appears to be a bridge have been shared hundreds of times in social media posts that falsely claim it shows the impact of Cyclone Biparjoy on the coastline of a state in northwestern India in June 2023. While Biparjoy -- which means "disaster" in Bengali -- did hammer coastal communities with powerful winds, storm surges and lashing rain, the video in fact shows a jetty during high tide on an island off India's southwestern coast almost six years earlier. The person who shot the video told AFP it was filmed on the island of Minicoy in August 2017 and such sights are a common occurrence there.

"BREAKING: #Biparjoy cyclone eats up a bridge in Gujarat, India. The cyclone is affecting India and Pakistan's coastal belt," reads the caption of a video shared on Twitter here on June 12, 2023.

Cyclones -- the equivalent of hurricanes in the North Atlantic or typhoons in the Northwest Pacific -- are a regular and deadly menace along the northern Indian Ocean coastline where tens of millions of people live.

The video, which has been shared more than 120 times, circulated as Cyclone Biparjoy approached northwestern India's Gujarat state and Sindh state in southeastern Pakistan. Forecasters warned of the potential for "widespread damage", prompting the evacuation of tens of thousands from the storm's path.

In the 30-second video, huge waves can be seen crashing down on what appears to be a bridge, catching a couple of people who are on the structure.

Screenshot of the false tweet, captured on June 21, 2023

The same video was shared hundreds of times alongside similar claims elsewhere on Twitter here and here, while the video was spliced with other footage in Facebook posts here and here.

But the video in fact shows high tide on Minicoy, the southernmost island of the Lakshadweep archipelago in the Arabian sea off India's southwest coast, in 2017 -- not Cyclone Biparjoy menacing the coast of Gujarat (archived link).

High tide at Minicoy jetty

A reverse image search on Google led to a longer YouTube video titled "Minicoy Eastern Jetty Waves Attack 20170823", which was posted here on August 26, 2017 (archived link).

The video used in the false tweet corresponds with the first 30-seconds of the YouTube video.

Below is a screenshot comparison between the video used in the false tweet (left) and the YouTube video (right):

A screenshot comparison between the video used in the false tweet (left) and the YouTube video (right)

The YouTube video's description reads: "Huge waves attacked Minicoy Island Eastern Jetty on 23/08/2017. No casualties were reported but some local catamaran were destroyed in Agatti and Chetlat Island."

Another YouTube channel "LAKSHA.DWEEP" posted a similar video on August 24, 2017 with the title, "Minicoy Eastern Jetty ROUGH SEAS" (archive link).

The island's "Eastern Jetty" can be seen on Google Maps here and photos of the structure tagged with that location also correspond to the one seen in the false tweet (archived links here and here).

When asked about the video, a local government office referred AFP to Mohammad Aouvalu.

Aouvalu, who works on the island, told AFP via WhatsApp that he filmed the video on August 22, 2017.

"I shot the video and this is Minicoy Island during high tides in 2017, such sights are common here," he said on June 20.

AFP has previously debunked claims this video showed giant waves in Malaysia hitting a bridge and a tsunami in Alaska caused by an earthquake.

Is there content that you would like AFP to fact-check? Get in touch.

E-mail