Claim: A video shows Pakistan Army personnel risking their lives to help victims affected by the August 2022 floods in Balochistan.
Fact: The video is not related to the August 2022 flood relief operations carried out by the Pakistan Army but is, in fact, from Kandahar, Afghanistan when an Afghan military helicopter rescued people on 2 March 2019.
Fact or Fiction?
On 2 August 2022, Facebook page Just Pakistani Things shared a video claiming that it shows Pakistan Army personnel helping flood victims affected by the August 2022 floods in Balochistan.
The video is accompanied by the caption, “This is how our Jawaans are risking thier lives to help the flood victims in Balochistan Allah inko apnay hifz o Amaan mien rakhay! [This is how soldiers are risking their lives to help flood victims in Balochistan. May God keep them safe and sound!]”
Soch Fact Check found the claim to be misleading after a reverse image search led us to a tweet made on 4 January 2022 by journalist and veteran war correspondent Mustafa Kazemi. He shared a screenshot of the viral video with a caption that suggests that it depicts the “Kandahar helicopter flood rescue.”
Backstory on Kandahar helicopter flood rescue.
Pilots had gathered to leave to Kabul for holiday. They were in a bus in Kandahar airport when they got the call. Two pilots nakedly “Lt. Edris & Capt. Sami” got off the bus & went to their V-5 and flew the rescue mission. pic.twitter.com/BQZJvGxcl3
— Mustafa מוסטפא (@CombatJourno) January 4, 2022
In the Twitter thread, Kazemi also states that pilots from 777 Special Wing Mission carried out the rescue operation. In his last tweet, he also attached an image that reads, “Flash flooding in Afghanistan has left dozens dead” along with a link to a video. The link led us to an article posted by Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty on 4 March 2019 which suggests flooding took place in Afghanistan’s southern provinces of Kandahar and Helmand.
A Google search led to this article by The Guardian which carries a similar photo as the viral video. The caption of the photo reads, “An Afghan military helicopter rescues people clinging to the top of an overturned truck, in the flooded area of Arghandab district in Kandahar province. Photograph: Javed Tanveer/AFP/Getty Images.”
The same photo is also available on AFP’s website and the time stamp suggests it was taken on 2 March 2019.
Virality
Soch Fact Check conducted a CrowdTangle analysis for the 30-day period leading up to 22 August 2022 using the following search term:
- “This is how our Jawaans are risking thier lives to help the flood victims in Balochistan Allah inko apnay hifz o Amaan mien rakhay!”
- “Jawans risked their own life to rescue flood victims in Balochistan”
The first search term turned up six posts with 9,203 interactions while the second search term turned up 11 posts with 443 interactions.
The video with misleading captions connecting it to the August 2022 flood relief operations conducted by Pakistan Army to rescue flood victims can be found on Facebook here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
Soch Fact Check also found the video here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here on Twitter.
Conclusion: The video does not depict flood relief operations being carried out by Pakistan Army in August 2022 in Balochistan. In fact, it shows an Afghan military helicopter rescuing people from atop an overturned truck in a flooded area of Arghandab district in Kandahar province on 2 March 2019.