Fact Check: Old Images of causalities in Hpakant landslide shared as people killed during protests in Hlaing Tharyar!

In Hlaing Tharyar, at least 51 people were killed on Sunday, March 14, as the military cracked down on protesters on the streets. Following this incident, thousands of Facebook users re-shared a post titled “Heroes who fell in Hlaing Tharyar” containing a photo of a number of bodies lying on the ground.

However, FactCrescendo Myanmar’s investigations reveal that the photo in the post is not related to the incident in Hlaing Tharyar, but it is from the Hpakant landslide in 2020.

Social Media Posts:

“May all Hlaing Thar Yar heroes rest in peace,” wrote a Facebook user named “Khine Zaw,” which was shared more than 2000 times in 24 hours. Other links claiming the same can be found here and here. Similar information in English being shared on social networking site, Twitter, can be found here, here and here.

View Original Post Here – Fb link  |  Archive link 

Fact Check

We searched for the viral photo using Google Reverse Image Search. From analyzing the results obtained from the search, we found out that the image is old. The image is available on the internet since last year.

A website named News-uptodate had posted this image on July 3^rd, 2020 with the following caption; “Mournful images of burying unidentified victims who died in the Hpakant landslide. The bodies of those who died in the Hwe Kha landslide in Seikmu Village Tract, Hpakant Township were laid at the Hwe kha Village Cemetery at 6am on 2.7.2020.” 

Original link – News-uptodate |  Archive link 

On July 2, 2020, at least 174 people were killed in a landslide at a gem mine plot in Hpakant. Eleven Media Report had also published this photo then while reporting the landslide. The description of the video report is as follows: “Local parties, including the Kachin State government and the KIO Central Committee, express their condolences over the deaths in the Hpakant landslide.”

Conclusion

It is clear from our investigation, that the photos of the bodies of those who died during the landslide in Seikmu Village Tract, Hpakant Township were shared as photos of protesters who were shot dead by the military in Hlaing Tharyar.