No, these are not victims of the quake-tsunami on Indonesia’s Sulawesi Island
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on October 4, 2018 at 13:46
- Updated on October 4, 2018 at 13:49
- 1 min read
- By AFP Indonesia
Copyright © AFP 2017-2025. Any commercial use of this content requires a subscription. Click here to find out more.
Posted on Facebook on September 30, the image has a caption in Indonesian that reads: “These are Palu earthquake victims. Please pray for a second. Hopefully the victims will rest in peace in heaven. Those who share this post will be spared from calamities!!! Amen.”
Palu is one of the Sulawesi cities hit by a series of earthquakes, the strongest measuring 7.5 magnitude, on September 28, 2018.
The official toll from the disaster, which was followed by a tsunami, was more than 1,400 confirmed dead on October 4.
The post, which had more than 80,000 shares and 15,000 reactions, showed body bags being lined up by aid workers dressed in green. Many of the comments underneath said “Amen.”
AFP examined where the image first appeared on the internet and found it illustrating a New Scientist article from January 4, 2005, titled “500,000 people injured by Asian tsunami”.
The picture has a Rex Features credit and caption saying “Near Khao Lak, about 100 kilometres north of Phuket, Thailand, volunteers sort bodies and place them into bags before taking them to the morgue, where a DNA sample is taken.”
The photo appeared on Rex Features’ website in a search for “Khao Lak”.
Indonesia has cracked down on "fake news" about its deadly quake-tsunami disaster, with police arresting nine people for spreading hoaxes in a bid to prevent further panic spreading among survivors.
Is there content that you would like AFP to fact-check? Get in touch.
Contact us
