Videos of family killed in Swat River incident from before the accident

Rating Justification

The iVerify Pakistan team investigated this content and determined that it is false.

To reach this conclusion, iVerify Pakistan analysed the viral clips and conducted reverse image searches to trace them.

Posts from multiple users on various social media platforms since July 1, 2025, circulated videos allegedly showing the family that was recently killed in the Swat River before the tragedy struck. However, the videos are AI-generated.

On June 27, a family, belonging to Daska tehsil in Sialkot, had stopped for breakfast at Relax Hotel, located at the Fizagat picnic point on the outskirts of Mingora. After their meal, they ventured onto the riverbed to take photographs. As they snapped selfies and recorded videos, the waters suddenly swelled, trapping them on a raised mound of stones and sand, left behind by quarrying work in the riverbed.

The river’s rapids quickly eroded the small, fragile piece of land beneath them. As bystanders captured the unfolding tragedy on their phones under a grey sky, members of the group began to fall into the torrent, one by one. Within minutes, all were swept away.

HOW IT STARTED

On July 1, a video was shared on X by a user claiming to show a young boy filming himself at the Swat River’s riverbed with family members visible in the background. In the video, the boy appears to be enjoying and sharing updates. The on-screen text reads, “A video of before the accident.”

The post was viewed over 80,000 times.

The same video was also shared on X by another user, as well as on TikTok.

On Facebook, the video can be seen here and here, receiving over 12,000 and 4,500 views respectively.

Another similar video with the same on-screen text was also shared on TikTok on July 1, showing a different boy recording himself on the riverbank. The clip garnered over 206,000 views.

METHODOLOGY

A fact-check was initiated to determine the veracity of the claim due to its high virality and keen public interest in the Swat River tragedy.

An analysis of the video revealed multiple signs indicating it was AI-generated, such as unnaturally shiny skin, stiff and unrealistic lip movements, and eyes that remain fixed, blinking only once throughout the entire clip.

Moreover, the viral video showed several women wearing brightly colored clothes, while original footage from the actual incident showed only two to three women, all of whom were wearing white scarves.

A reverse image search traced the video back to a TikTok post dated June 29 from an account named “ai.wonder001”. The account featured multiple other similar AI-generated videos from the Swat River incident.

As for the second video, it showed the same signs of AI-generated content. The viral clip also featured a Veo logo on the bottom-right corner, a text-to-video AI model developed by Google DeepMind.

FACT-CHECK STATUS: FALSE

The claim that viral videos show the family killed in the Swat River accident enjoying themselves before tragedy struck is false.

The videos are AI-generated and all differ from each other, with key details different in each video.

Evidence and References

June 29, 2025, TikTok video:
https://archive.ph/e290T