More false rescue claims surface weeks after Thai quake

Published on April 23, 2025 at 11:19
3 min read
By Pasika KHERNAMNUOY, AFP Thailand

Thai authorities say dozens remain missing weeks after a deadly earthquake collapsed a tower in the capital Bangkok on March 28, 2025. But false rumours about victims found alive after prolonged periods beneath the rubble continue to swirl online, with the most recent posts misrepresenting footage from the night of the tremor.

"Breaking news. Moment of life. A victim was found alive three meters down under the rubble in Zone B of the SAO building collapse in the evening of April 11, 2025, after 15 days passed," reads part of a TikTok post on April 11.

The video shows volunteers standing closely together with their arms raised to form a human barrier, as rescuers carry a victim out of the rubble.

A massive earthquake on March 28 collapsed an under-construction skyscraper in Bangkok, trapping scores of people thought mostly to be workers on the building site. Authorities say 53 bodies have since been recovered while 41 remain missing (archived here and here).

In neighbouring Myanmar, the catastrophic tremor killed more than 3,700 people, destroyed buildings, downed bridges and buckled roads.

Screenshot of the false post taken on April 18, 2025

Posts about a new survivor in Bangkok surfaced on TikTok, Facebook and YouTube after rescuers detected flickering lights under the debris and bolstered hopes of finding more people alive (archived link).

But the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) told AFP nine victims were rescued on March 28 and no additional survivors have been found since.

"No survivors were found during the rescue operation on April 11," a representative said on April 17, refuting the false posts.

AFP has debunked previous claims that have misrepresented earlier rescue clips.

Similarly, the video in the circulating posts, which has accumulated more than three million combined views, shows rescue efforts on the night of the quake.

A reverse image search using keyframes followed by keyword searches on Google found a YouTube video from broadcaster Channel 7 with matching visuals published on March 28, 2025 (archived link).

Screenshot comparison between the falsely shared clip (left) and the Channel 7 report (right), with corresponding elements highlighed by AFP

Thai state-owned broadcaster MCOT also published a Facebook video on March 28 with identical audio to the false TikTok post (archived link).

The video's caption indicates the survivor was carried out of the building the same day it collapsed.

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