Vietnam blaze falsely portrayed as Cambodia

Published on September 16, 2025 at 10:56
2 min read
By Chayanit ITTHIPONGMAETEE, AFP Thailand

Thai and Cambodian partisans continue to battle online more than a month after the Southeast Asian rivals saw bloody border clashes, making baseless claims of disasters in the other nation. In the latest example, users from Thailand have falsely presented footage of a parking lot fire in Vietnam as a scene of "karmic justice" in Cambodia.

"Urgent! There is a fire on the elevated expressway. No agency has come to extinguish the fire. Karma catches up very quickly. #FireinCambodia," says a Thai-language Facebook post shared September 10, 2025.

The accompanying video shows flames erupting beneath a bridge, superimposed with Thai text that translates as: "Karmic justice to Cambodia. Fire under an elevated road."

Screenshot of the false Facebook post taken September 15, 2025, with a red X added by AFP

The clip garnered more than 480,000 views and over 1,100 shares, with similar claims also posted on TikTok and YouTube.

Social media users from the rival countries have been trading barbs online following deadly border clashes in July that left more than 40 people dead (archived link).

AFP has debunked many of these posts, which included misrepresented visuals of disasters.

A reverse image search using keyframes from the circulating video found a higher quality version was posted on TikTok on August 30, 2025 (archived link).

Its Vietnamese-language caption says the fire happened at a parking lot beneath the Vinh Tuy Bridge in Vietnam's capital Hanoi.

Screenshot comparison between the false Facebook post (L) and the TikTok post

A further search found a Facebook post the same day about the fire, with a video taken from a different angle (archived link).

The blaze scorched more than 500 motorbikes and prompted a sweeping review of parking lots located under bridges across Vietnam, local media reported (archived link).

AFP was able to confirm the location of the circulating video by comparing it with Google Maps street imagery of the Vinh Tuy Bridge (archived link).

Screenshot comparison of video shared on Facebook (L) and its location on Google Maps, with corresponding elements highlighted by AFP

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