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A photo of a row of coffins following a 2010 blaze in China's Sichuan province has recirculated in 2022 in false social media posts that claim it shows Chinese soldiers who were killed in a border clash with the Indian army. The photo actually corresponds with similar photos published by Chinese news organisations in 2010 about a memorial event for soldiers killed while tackling the Sichuan blaze. The photo shows a row of coffins draped in the flag of the Chinese People's Liberation Army inside a tent, with portraits placed on top of each one. Photos of the China-India Pangong Lake conflict have been released, proving that the Chinese side suffered heavy casualties, reads this November 22 Twitter post in simplified Chinese characters. The post's caption goes on to say that China gave India US$5 billion preferential loans to stop the conflict and China gave the entire lake to India a few months later. The post has been shared more than 270 times. Screenshot of the Twitter post, taken on December 5, 2022 China and India fought a border war in 1962 and have long accused each other of seeking to cross their frontier -- which has never been properly agreed -- in India's Ladakh region, just opposite Tibet, AFP reported . In mid-June 2020, a border clash turned deadly when 20 Indian soldiers were killed in the strategically important Galwan river valley in Ladakh. Eight months after the clash, Beijing said that four of its soldiers had died in the incident, while India's defence minister stated that both sides agreed to disengage from the Pangong Lake area. The photo was also shared alongside a similar claim on social media sites including here and here on Twitter, here and here on Facebook, and on US social media site Gettr here and here . Some of the posts also shared another photo of the same row of coffins from a different angle. There have been no official reports that China offered India a US$5 billion loan in order to solve the border dispute, or that India has taken control of the whole Pangong Lake. The photo also predates the 2020 clash between China and India, and in fact shows the coffins of Chinese soldiers who died rescuing people from a wildfire in Sichuan province in 2010. Baidu reverse image searches found this news report published by China News Service on December 8, 2010, which included a similar photo credited to a journalist at the news agency. Below is a screenshot comparison of the photo shared in the online posts (left) and the photo published by China News Service (right): Screenshot comparison of the photo shared in the online posts (left) and the photo published by China News Service (right) The report reads: On December 7, coffins of the 15 martyrs who died in the bush fire in Daofu county, Sichuan province arrived in Kangding. A mourning hall was set up in Kangding Gymnasium for citizens to mourn them. Two similar photos from the same memorial event were published by the Chinese newspaper West China City Daily here and here . Similar photos published by West China City Daily China's People's Liberation Army published this message of condolence for the 15 soldiers on December 8, 2010. On December 5, a grassland fire broke out in Daofu county, Garzê Tibetan autonomous prefecture, Sichuan province, reads the message. At the critical moment, soldiers of the Independent Battalion of Garze army district, bearing in mind the purpose of our army, rushed to the fire scene immediately and devoted themselves to fighting the fire, making outstanding contributions to fighting the mountain fire. In particular, 15 officers and soldiers set themselves apart and heroically sacrificed their young lives to put out the fire, displaying their deep love for the people. AFP has published other debunks about the China-India border dispute here and here .
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