Footage from Turkey pilgrimage falsely linked to Ceuta crisis
- Published on August 7, 2026 at 07:02
- 2 min read
- By Cristina ALONSO PASCUAL, AFP Spain
- Translation and adaptation Livia LIU, Devesh MISHRA, AFP Hong Kong, AFP India
Social media posts have falsely linked a video of people walking across a hillside to the influx of migrants into Spain's North African territory of Ceuta in late July 2026. The footage is unrelated to the crossings; the person who filmed it told AFP it was taken weeks earlier in southeastern Turkey and shows pilgrims en route to a religious destination.
"Thirty four African migrants died from suffocation and drowning while attempting to force their way into Spain. The Spanish government reported around 70,000 people had entered Ceuta from Morocco within 24 hours, either by swimming or on foot," reads the Hindi caption of an Instagram post shared on July 31.
The attached 17-second video, which has more than 2.4 million views, shows people walking on a hilly tract. Text overlaid on the footage repeats the claim.
The video circulated elsewhere on Instagram and other platforms, including in Chinese, after tens of thousands of migrants poured into Ceuta, most by swimming from the nearby Moroccan city of Fnideq (archived link).
Migration from Morocco into Spain's two North African territories, Ceuta and Melilla, has long been a politically sensitive issue between the two countries. But the unprecedented rush of irregular migrants in late July also sparked tensions with Spain's EU partners.
Spain's Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said on August 5 that 70,000 out of 72,000 migrants who reached the territory had already been returned. Those who remain face squalid living conditions with limited access to shelter, food, water and sanitation, AFP reporters in Ceuta saw.
At least 80 migrants died attempting to reach Ceuta, Spanish officials said on August 6 (archived link).
But the video shared online does not show migrants attempting to reach Spain.
A reverse image search on Google found the same video shared July 5 on Instagram -- weeks before the Ceuta crisis (archived link).
"I recorded this video 28 days ago on Mount Judi, in the area where Noah's Ark is believed to be located," account owner Bedri Caner told AFP on July 31, referencing a Biblical vessel.
Caner, a journalist at Turkish digital media outlet Sirnak Haber 73, also shared the clip on TikTok with a caption indicating it was filmed on Mount Cudi in southeastern Turkey (archived links here and here).
His Instagram page features a recording posted the same day and another from June 29, both showing a landscape similar to that in the footage shared in the false posts (archived links here and here).
A Facebook user also posted a photo showing the same tents at the festival seen later in the falsely shared video (archived link).
Caner said a commemorative gathering was held July 4 and 5, with "between 40,000 and 50,000 people coming to the site of Noah’s Ark for commemorative and pilgrimage purposes".
The pilgrimage is part of the traditional Prophet Noah Commemoration Ceremony held every year at the beginning of July. This year's edition, the fifth annual festival, was attended by Turkish Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmus (archived links here and here).
Sirnak Haber 73 published Caner's clip in a report about the festival on July 5 (archived link).
AFP has debunked several other claims about the migrant influx in Ceuta.
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