Old video from Saudi Arabia shared as Libya man praying in the aftermath of Storm Daniel

By: Rajini KG
September 15 2023

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(Source: X/TikTok/Screenshots/Modified by Logically Facts)

What's the claim?

Storm Daniel caused heavy rainfall in Libya, causing flash floods as two dams built in Derna City collapsed due to the rain. More than 30,000 people have been displaced, and the death toll has passed 5,000. Rescue operations are underway, and countries like Egypt, UAE, Tunisia, and Turkey have joined the Libian rescue team, Reuters reports.

Following this, a video of a man praying in the middle of a flooded street next to a submerged car was shared on social media with the claim that it is from Libya. On September 14, 2023, Turkish news platform "Sabha," a Turkish daily newspaper, shared the video with the caption, "A man waiting to be rescued in the middle of a flood in Libya prayed on the rubble of a house (Translated from Turkish)." The post garnered over 243,000 views. An archive version can be accessed here. The same video was shared across different platforms (Archive versions can be accessed here, here, and here). 

Screenshots of viral video. (Source: X/Instagram/Screenshots/Modified by Logically Facts)

However, the video predates the recent Libya floods. It is from Saudi Arabia, recorded in 2022.

What we found

A closer inspection of the video report revealed that several of the clips included are old and unrelated to Libya's recent catastrophe. We performed reverse image searches on keyframes of the video and found that at least six clips are actually from other countries.

Comparison of viral video and 2022 YouTube video. (Source: X/YouTube/Screenshots)

The same video was found on Saudi News FR's official X account on November 25, 2022. The caption reads that a citizen was videographed praying in a flood in Jeddah on November 24, 2022.

Screenshot of 2022 video of a man praying in Saudi Arabia. (Source: X/Screenshot)

Saudi-Expatriates, an expatriate blog in Saudi Arabia, also published the same video in its report on December 1, 2022. According to Saudi Expatriates, a man named Abdullah Al-Mutairi was performing prayers when floodwater surrounded him in Jeddah. His son Raad Abdullah Al-Mutairi said that his brother, his father, and he got stuck in the flood water while bringing the cars into the house as the water level increased. He added that their car got swept away by the flood; during that time, his father managed to get out of the car and could stand on the rubble and perform the prayer. 

Nogoom Masrya (نجوم مصرية), an Arabic Egyptian independent news website, and Aden Time, an electronic news media from Yemen, also reported the same.

NDTV reported that heavy rain caused floods in western Saudi Arabia, including the coastal city of Jeddah, in November 2022. Due to rains, flights were temporarily halted, and schools were closed.

The verdict

A nine-month-old video from Saudi Arabia is falsely linked to the recent flood effect in Libya. Therefore, we have marked this claim as false.