Old rescue footage mispresented as survivor found in Thailand weeks after deadly jolt

"He survived even though it has been 14 days without drinking or eating under the building. He is so lucky," reads a Burmese-language Facebook post published on April 11, 2025.

The video -- which racked up more than 5,300 views -- shows emergency workers pulling a person from a collapsed building. 

Thai-language text on top of the video reads, "He is very good. He has lasted so long. Very patient, 11/4/68."

"I think there are reasons why he can't die because he has been stranded for 14 days," Burmese-language text at the bottom says.

Image

Screenshot of the false Facebook post taken on April 17, 2025

A massive 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck Myanmar on March 28, killing more than 3,700 people. Tremors were felt in cities hundreds of kilometres away in China and Thailand.

In Bangkok, a skyscraper that was under construction collapsed, prompting a rescue mission and scrutiny over a Chinese developer (archived here and here).

The posts circulated on Facebook after Thai media reported flickering lights were detected under the rubble on April 10, which reignited hopes of finding more survivors (archived here and here).

But the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) posted a daily update figure on April 12, showing that five more bodies had been recovered from the collapsed building (archived link).

Some users appeared to believe the clip shows a survivor rescued recently.

"Well done, team. Thanks for the amazing work you have done for the earthquake victims," one commented.

"I am very glad. Get well soon," another user wrote.

But a reverse image search on Google using the falsely shared video's keyframes found a clip that Fire & Rescue Thailand -- a page that tracks volunteer rescue operations across the kingdom -- uploaded to its Facebook page on March 28, showing the same scene from another angle (archived link).

Its caption reads: "At 8:00 pm. The moment the victim was pulled out of the rubble of the building that collapsed in the earthquake."

The page's administrator confirmed to AFP on April 16 that the footage was filmed by a volunteer from the Ruamkatanyu Foundation, and that it was "an old clip, not from April 11".

Image

Screenshot comparison of the false video (left) and the clip published by Fire & Rescue Thailand, with the same people highlighted by AFP

The BMA also confirmed to AFP on April 17 that nine people were rescued on March 28 and no one else has been found alive since.

"No survivors were found during the rescue operation on April 11," a BMA representative said.

Other outlets, including Thai Enquirer, BBC News and France 24, also used the clip in reports published in March about the rescue operation (archived here, here, and here).

AFP has debunked other misleading claims about the earthquake.