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Coronavirus victims? No, photo of people killed by 2004 tsunami

A photo of what seem to be dozens of dead bodies wrapped in plastic, with three people wearing masks standing among them, has been shared on Facebook in Kenya.

It’s captioned: “A second won’t cost you anything, just type ‘Thank you God for the gift of life’. COVID-19 must go.”

Does the photo show victims of the coronavirus pandemic?



Photo 16 years old


A Yandex reverse image search reveals that the photo was taken by David Longstreath of the Associated Press in December 2004

Africa Check found the photo in the AP archive.

Here the caption reads: “In this Dec. 30, 2004 file photo, Thais walk outside a Buddhist temple, near Takuapa, Thailand, where more than 1,000 bodies have been gathered.”

The victims were killed by “one of the deadliest natural disasters in world history: a tsunami, triggered by a massive earthquake off the Indonesian coast”, which left “more than 230,000 people dead in 14 countries”.

“Countries from Indonesia to India to Africa's east coast were hit, leaving shocking scenes of death and destruction.”

The photo does not show Covid-19 victims. The dead were killed by the 2004 tsunami off the coast of Indonesia. – Grace Gichuhi




 

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