Old stock images falsely presented as Thailand quake sniffer dogs

Published on March 31, 2025 at 10:50
3 min read
By Chayanit ITTHIPONGMAETEE, AFP Thailand

Thai authorities have deployed search dogs to find survivors believed trapped under a building that collapsed after a deadly quake in March. But images purportedly showing rescue efforts in the capital Bangkok are unrelated and have previously appeared on stock photo websites since at least October 2018.

"Two dogs from Thailand can help 10 people in just a few hours. Good boys!!!" reads the Thai-language caption to pictures of a dog searching through rubble.

The March 30 Facebook post has more than 14,000 shares.

Screenshot of the false Facebook post, taken March 31, 2025

The images also surfaced in similar Thai-language posts after a powerful earthquake caused an under-construction building in Bangkok to collapse on March 28.

At least 18 people have been killed in the capital, city authorities said, with 33 injured and 78 still missing (archived link).

Most of the deaths were workers killed in the tower collapse, while most of the missing are believed to be trapped under the immense pile of debris where the skyscraper once stood.

Sniffer dogs and thermal imaging drones have been deployed to seek signs of life in the collapsed building, which is close to the Chatuchak weekend market popular among tourists.

The 7.7-magnitude quake has killed at least 1,700 people in neighbouring Myanmar, where hopes are fading of finding more survivors in hard-hit Mandalay city.

A reverse image search on Google found the circulating pictures uploaded on the Shutterstock website where they are credited to Czech photographer Jaroslav Noska (archived link).

All three pictures bear the same caption that reads, "Dog looking for injured people in ruins after earthquake" (archived here, here and here).

Shutterstock does not indicate when or where they were taken.

Screenshot comparisons between the images circulating online (L) and the pictures from Shutterstock

AFP has previously debunked posts that misused the same pictures during earlier tremors.

Stock website Alamy has also uploaded at least two of the images and noted they were taken on October 18, 2018 (archived here and here).

A representative for the company earlier told AFP: "As far as I can tell, both images have been uploaded by the same contributor in October 2018."

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

E-mail