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Another Likoni ferry accident in Kenya? No, photo seven years old

A photo posted on Facebook in Kenya on 5 April 2020 shows a truck floating in water next to the open onramp of what seems to be a sea ferry. Lettering on the side of the ferry reads “MV LIKONI”.

The photo appears to be a screenshot from a video. It’s captioned: “Waah! Mungu ahurumie Kenya. Lorry ingine imeanguka kwa maji saa hii. Kama hujaona hii video angalia saa hii kwa comment ya kwanza.” That’s Kiswahili for: “God have mercy on Kenya. Another lorry has plunged in the ocean right now. If you have not seen this video, look for it in the first comment.”

In September 2019 a mother and daughter drowned when their car slid off the Likoni ferry connecting Mombasa Island to the mainland on Kenya’s southern coast. The tragedy grabbed headlines – and fuelled hoaxes.

Has there been another Likoni ferry accident?



Marketing for music video


A reverse image search reveals that the photo is seven years old, dating from January 2013.

It appears on the Getty Images stock photo collection, where the caption reads: “People stand on the deck of a ferry where a truck lost control and rammed into passengers boarding the boat, killing at least 11 people in Kenya’s port city of Mombasa on January 26, 2013.”

AFP Fact Check included the photo in a report on several images that circulated in late 2019 with the false claim that they showed the accident in September of that year.

Later in the Facebook post, the user posts a link to a music video on YouTube that uses the ferry photo as its preview. But the video has nothing to do with the accident shown in the photo. The attention-grabbing post could simply be an attempt to market the video. – Africa Check




 

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