2021 Photo From the Wildfires in Algeria Resurfaces Online
The Claim
This photo is from the recent wildfires in Algeria.
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Emerging story
Social media users and websites have recently widely shared an image purporting that it is from the recent wildfires in Algeria.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar investigates the circulating image and found the claim to be misleading. The photo dates back to 2021.
Upon conducting a reverse image on Google, Misbar’s team found that the image was first shared by Associated Press on August 12, 2021. The description of the photo reads:
In this photo taken Wednesday, Aug.11, 2021, a man looks at a forest fire near the village of Larbaa Nath Irathen, neat Tizi Ouzou, in the mountainous Kabyle region, 100 kilometers (60 miles) east of Algeria's capital of Algiers. Wildfires in Algeria that already have killed at least 69 people burned through the mountainous Berber region as the North African country contended Thursday with a heat wave like the ones fueling fires in Southern Europe. (AP Photo/Fateh Guidoum)
Several other media outlets also shared the same photo in 2021.
2021 Wildfires in Algeria
In August 2021, more than 70 fires were recorded across Algeria. A total of 90 people were killed in the wildfires in Algeria in 2021, including 57 civilians and 33 soldiers.
Among the worst affected towns was Larbaa Nath Irathen in the Tizi Ouzou province. A man was lynched in the same area after the locals suspected him of being an arsonist. The victim was identified as 38-year-old painter Djamel Ben Ismail, who had volunteered to help put out the fires.
The photo resurfaced online during the recent wildfires that spread across Algeria this month.
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