Fact Check: Old pictures of boat accidents passed off as Greece incident

Media outlets and social media users are sharing images of the boat sinking. Users claim that this is the same boat that was carrying illegal migrants that capsized off the coast of Greece recently.

On June 19, Wion News shared three images in a report with the caption, “A boat carrying approximately 750 people capsized in open seas off Greece on Wednesday. Many Pakistanis are feared dead although the exact number has not yet been officially confirmed.”

Several Twitter shared the images making similar claims. (Click here, here, here and here to see the posts.)

The images come in the aftermath of what is touted to be the deadliest shipwreck in the Mediterranean Sea. On June 14, an overcrowded fishing trawler crammed with migrants trying to reach Europe capsized and sank off the coast of Greece. As per CNN, 300 Pakistani nationals have reportedly died and many more are missing. The trawler was carrying 750 men, women, and children when it capsized last week.

Fact Check

NewsMeter found that the images are old and unrelated.

On performing a reverse image search of the first picture, we found it in a report on the website, G Captain, published on April 15, 2015. It said a boat ferrying 550 migrants from Libya to Itlay capsized in the Mediterranean. The tragedy led to the death of 400 migrants. The 150 survivors after rescue were brought to a southern Italian port.

A website, European Movement, also used the image in its 2015 report on Europe’s Migrant crisis.

Upon reverse image search, we found the second and third picture in a report by The Washington Post from May 25, 2016. The description of the photo reads, “These photos released by the Italian Navy show the shipwreck of a crowded boat of migrants off the Libyan coast. At least seven migrants drowned after the vessel overturned, the Italian Navy said.”

A New York Times video report from May 26, 2016, titled “Italy Rescues Over 500 Off Libyan Coast,” showed visuals similar to the second and third pictures.

Finally, we searched for images of the recent Greece boat tragedy and found them published by Reuters and Aljazeera, which are not similar to the viral pictures.

Hence, we conclude that old pictures of boat accidents are being falsely shared as the recent boat tragedy in Greece.