Unrelated clip misrepresented as 'final moments' of Thai school bus inferno

"The group of children who died today. I am so sorry," read Burmese-language text superimposed on a TikTok video from October 2, 2024.

The video shows young students in dark blue uniforms singing on a bus, alongside hashtags "Bangkok's car fire incident" and "I'm sorry for the misfortune of the children".

The post claimed the footage showed a school bus shortly before it caught fire on October 1 on a highway outside the Thai capital Bangkok (archived link).

The inferno killed at least 23 -- most of them children -- and is thought to be the kingdom's deadliest road accident in a decade.

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Screenshot of the false TikTok post, captured on October 3, 2024

The clip circulated online in various languages, including Burmese, English and Visayan.

However, the video was originally posted on TikTok on September 24 -- one week before the tragedy.

The original TikTok post was since deleted but AFP was able to archive it.

Below is a screenshot of the post with the upload date highlighted:

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Screenshot of the post with the upload date highlighted

Jirawan Mesan, who posted the video, said she was a kindergarten teacher from Nakhon Si Thammarat -- a province more than 700 kilometres (430 miles) south of Bangkok.

"The students in the clip are from Nakhon Si Thammarat province," she told AFP on October 2. "I uploaded the original clip last week."

At the start of the video, a student could be seen wearing a uniform for Semamuang School in Nakhon Si Thammarat.

However, the children killed in the bus fire were from Wat Khao Phraya Sangkharam School in the northern province of Uthai Thani (archived link).

The post's Thai-language caption said the children were singing a popular kindergarten song.

"The students were lovely and liked to sing a song so I posted the clip to share their cute moment," Mesan said.