Old clip is incorrectly linked to a fatal travel boat accident in HA Long Bay, Vietnam
An old video of a ferry capsizing after being batteryd by strong winds and waves has been recirculated by social media users who falsely claim it shows a deadly tourist boat sinking during a storm in Vietnam’s Ha Long Bay on July 19, 2025. The clip was published earlier in Vietnamese media reports about the impact of Typhoon Yagi in September 2024, one of the region’s strongest storms that year.
The Thai language title reads on a post on July 19, 2025: “Vietnam: A tourist ship took off in the sea-long bay in the strong winds facing the storm Wipha, killing 34 people.”
The title continues: “The authorities are eagerly looking for dozens of missing persons.”
The post includes a video in which a boat is slammed by wind and rain before slowly tilting to the right and tilting.
At least 35 people were killed during the storm of July 19 when some called Ha Long Bay’s worst disaster (the archived link).
False x post screenshot, AFP added red X
However, local media quoted the director of the country’s National Hydrotechnology Prediction Center, saying that thunderstorms in northern Vietnam were not caused by the influence of tropical storm Wipha in the South China Sea.
The same video sinks videos are related to the July disaster in X and elsewhere on Facebook and posts in English and Burmese languages.
But a reverse image search on Google found that the video was a report about another storm published online a few months ago.
The footage was published on September 7, 2024 on the Facebook page of verified Vietnamese media VTC News, titled “Ha Long Bay’s Tourist Boat Capsize” (a link to archive).
Screenshot comparison between false x Post (L) posted on Facebook and video
Other Vietnamese media released a report on Storm 3 in a report from September 7 to 8, 2024 – the local name of Typhoon Yagi (and archive links here and here).
The super typhoon killed at least 197 people in Vietnam as its associated heavy rain brought flooding and caused landslides. Thousands of people had to be evacuated as the storm destroyed the exit routes of the Red River Delta (the archived link).
The blog “Shipwreck Log” which records shipwrecks and sea accidents reported that several ships were damaged or sunk when Typhoon Yagi landed in Vietnam and included the same footage as the black and white ship (a link to archive).
The capsized tourist ferry in July 2025 can be seen in AFP photos showing blue and white boats with different railings.
Screenshot comparison between fake posts (L) and videos in AFP photos
