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| - Fact Check: These images of sinking boats DO NOT show recent tragedy in Mediterranean Sea near Greece
India Today's probe revealed that both photos are old and unrelated to the recent incident.
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India Today Fact Check
The first image is from April 2015, and the second is from May 2016. Both show boat accidents in the Mediterranean Sea.
In what’s being touted as “the worst tragedy ever” in the Mediterranean Sea, a boat packed with migrants capsized in the early hours of June 14 about 80 km from the southern coastal town of Pylos in Greece. According to a CNN report, more than 300 Pakistani nationals died in the tragedy. Close to 750 men, women, and children were reportedly on the packed boat.
In its aftermath, many on social media shared two photos of overfull boats capsizing. “The boat which drowned in Greece with Illegal immigrants. About 700 people died in the incident, including 310 Pakistanis,” wrote one Twitter user. “More than 300 Pakistani terrorists trying to invade Europe through Greece have died in a boat capsize accident in Greece,” tweeted another person. Archived versions of these posts can be seen here and here.
India Today found that both are old and unrelated to the recent tragedy. Also, there is no credible evidence to suggest that the Pakistani migrants on the boat were terrorists.
Our Probe
A reverse search of the first image led us to an archived article about Europe's migrant crisis. Published on April 29, 2015, on a website named European Movement Ireland, it featured the same photo, making it clear that the image was unrelated to the recent incident.
We found the earliest version of this image in a news report on April 15, 2015. According to it, almost 400 migrant workers died in a boat accident in the Mediterranean Sea. According to an ABC News report, the migrants died while attempting to reach Italy from Libya when their boat capsized. The boat, carrying about 550 migrants, flipped about 24 hours after leaving the Libyan coast, according to some of the 150 survivors who were rescued and brought to a southern Italian port.
Reverse-searching the second image of the boat tilting into the water led us to the stock photo website Alamy. It featured the same photograph, and its description noted, “In this May 25, 2016 file photo made available by the Italian Navy, people try to jump in the water right before their boat overturns off the Libyan coast.”
A Guardian article from May 29, 2016, featuring a similar image of a capsized boat also confirmed the same. Thus, it became clear that both images were unrelated to the recent incident near the Greek coast.
No credible reports about the recent boat tragedy have any mention of terrorists among Pakistani migrants. Thus, the claim that terrorists died in the accident is absolutely without merit.
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