Thai posts mock Cambodia with misattributed Pakistan flooding video

Published on September 5, 2025 at 11:38
4 min read
By Chayanit ITTHIPONGMAETEE, AFP Thailand

A video of a man being swept away by floodwaters on a road in Karachi, Pakistan has resurfaced in social media posts falsely claiming it was filmed after recent storms in Cambodia. The footage was previously shared in posts saying it was filmed during heavy downpours in Pakistan's largest city.

"Cambodian flood," reads the Thai-language caption of a Facebook clip shared on September 1, 2025.

The footage shows a flooded road and a person falling over before they are swept away by the current.

The same clip was also shared in another Facebook post, with its superimposed Thai text reading: "After Cambodian people mocked Thailand, the storm went back to them."

It adds that Cambodia is facing severe flooding and begging Thailand for help.

Screenshots of the false Facebook posts captured on September 4, 2025, with red Xs added by AFP

The posts surfaced following heavy rain in northwestern Cambodia; The Phnom Penh Post reported the deluge triggered flooding, though officials said the damage was not severe (archived link).

The footage, however, does not show flooding in the Southeast Asian nation.

Users from both countries have continued to sling insults at one another and misattribute disaster footage from other countries weeks after their respective governments agreed a ceasefire to halt their bloody border clashes (archived link).

Cyber warriors have also daubed official websites with obscenities, deluged opponents with spam and taken pages down (archived link).

A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the falsely shared video led to the same footage, flipped horizontally, posted on August 20 on the Instagram page of Dialogue Pakistan, a citizen journalism platform (archived link).

Its English-language caption reads, "Tuesday’s heavy rainfall in Karachi led to a man being swept away by rainwater on Shahrah-e-Faisal" -- referring to a major road in Pakistan's largest city.

Screenshot comparison of the falsely shared video (left) and the Dialogue Pakistan clip (right)

AFP reported on August 20 that more than 20 people were killed during a fresh spell of monsoon rain in Pakistan, which is among the world's most vulnerable countries to the effects of climate change and is increasingly facing extreme weather events (archived link).

Karachi's crumbling pipes and sewer system reportedly struggled to cope with the downpours (archived link).

In the background of the video is a billboard advertising a meal deal from KFC, which the fast food chain's Pakistan franchise promoted on its official Instagram account on August 6 (archived link).

Screenshot showing the advertisement visible in the falsely shared video, magnified by AFP

Elements of the video also match Google Street View imagery of Shahrah-e-Faisal, near to the Nursery Flyover, taken in April 2021 and drone video of the situation at the intersection posted on YouTube on August 19, 2025 (archived here and here).

Corresponding elements highlighted by AFP on the Dialogue Pakistan video (left) and drone footage and Google Street View imagery of the Nursery Flyover in Karachi (right)

The footage was previously misrepresented as showing flooding in India's Jammu City, which was debunked by fact-checking organisations Fact Crescendo and Factly (archived here and here).

AFP has also debunked other false claims about Thailand and Cambodia spread by rivals in the neighbouring countries.

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