Passenger van swept away by flood in Iran, not in Pakistan

"Latest: A huge tragedy. The entire school van along with children became victim of flood," reads the Urdu-language caption of a Facebook reel published on August 28. 

The clip shows a green van being swept by muddy floodwater as passengers cry for help and people rush along the bank. After some time, the van is seen overturned along the embankment. 

The post also contained the hashtags #Ravi #flood #indian #IndiaFloods #rescue #lahore.

Three transboundary rivers in the east of Pakistan have swollen to exceptionally high levels in August as a result of heavy rains across the border in India (archived link). 

It has triggered flood alerts throughout Punjab province, home to nearly half of Pakistan's 255 million people. The army was also deployed to help evacuate people and livestock near the Chenab, Ravi and Sutlej rivers.

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Screenshot of the false Facebook reel taken on August 28, 2025, with a red X added by AFP

The same clip along with similar claims also appeared on Instagram, X and TikTok.

But the video first circulated in news reports about floods that hit neighbouring Iran three years ago. 

A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the falsely shared clip led to similar footage used in a July 31, 2022, report by the news outlet The Independent Persian on its verified YouTube channel entitled: "Van passengers trapped in deadly flood" (archived link).

Persian language description on the video reads: "On July 30, the occupants of a van were caught in the middle of flooding on the road from the village of Meyami to the village of Chenarak in Razavi Khorasan province. According to the governor of Mashhad, the 13 passengers in the van were Iraqis, seven of whom died as a result of the accident."

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Screenshots comparison of false post (left) and the Independent Persian video (right):

Iranian media outlets Mehr News and Hamshahri Online also reported the same incident embedding similar images (archived here and here). 

Landslides and floods triggered by heavier-than-usual monsoon rains have killed more than 850 people across Pakistan since June. The latest downpour has killed at least 32 people as of August 31, 2025 (archived link).

AFP has fact-checked other false claims about the monsoon rains affecting South Asia.