A video of Thailand’s Nong Bua Temple partially submerged by floodwaters has resurfaced in posts claiming it reveals flooding in neighbouring Cambodia. Whereas heavy rain drenched elements of each nations in late August, the footage was the truth is filmed in northern Thailand a month earlier.
“Flooding in Cambodia. Karma,” reads the Thai-language caption of a TikTok clip posted on September 7, 2025.
The clip collected practically 300,000 views and reveals {a partially} submerged temple with solely its ornately adorned roof above the water.
Superimposed Thai textual content on the video reads “Flooding in Cambodia”, whereas the Khmer-language textual content says “Flooding at a pagoda in Laos close to Thai border”.
Screenshot of the false TikTok put up captured on September 9, 2025, with a purple X added by AFP
Related claims surfaced elsewhere on Fb and YouTube in what seems to be a part of an ongoing social media battle between Thai and Cambodian customers after the nations engaged in 5 days of lethal border clashes in July (archived hyperlink).
“In the event that they did not invade Thailand, Thailand would’ve gone to assist relieve them from the floods. Now, I do not see any nations providing them palms to assist. Karma is actual,” learn a touch upon one of many posts.
One other remark learn: “Cambodia is ungrateful to us. Let the flood inundate their complete nation.”
The posts appeared after tropical storms struck Thailand and Cambodia in late August, with heavy rains triggering floods and landslides (archived right here and right here).
However a reverse picture search on Google utilizing keyframes from the falsely shared clip discovered an equivalent video printed on Fb in July.
The authentic video was printed on July 24 and captioned: “Nong Bua Temple, Ta Wang Pha district, Nan province” (archived hyperlink).
The consumer — a Buddhist monk — confirmed with AFP on September 9 that he took the video at Nong Bua Temple on July 24. He stated posts claiming it was filmed in Cambodia are “false”.
Thai media reported that Tropical Storm Wipha swept by way of Nan province in July, with the century-old temple sustaining injury from extreme floods (archived right here and right here).
Screenshot comparability of the false TikTok put up (left) and the Fb put up from July (proper)
Related photographs of the flooded temple have been additionally posted elsewhere on Fb on the identical day (archived hyperlink).
A consultant from Nong Bua Temple additionally confirmed to AFP that the circulating clip was taken on the temple, including that it was “the worst flooding in 200 years”.
Components of the clip additionally match with Google Maps photographs of the temple (archived hyperlink).
Screenshot comparability of the falsely shared clip (left) and a Google Maps picture of the Nong Bua Temple in Thailand (proper)
Native media reported that authorities officers had surveyed the broken temple and restoration work is predicted in late 2025 (archived hyperlink).
AFP has beforehand debunked different misinformation associated to the Cambodia-Thailand battle.
