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A video of a ferry on fire has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times after it was shared in social media posts that claim it shows a blaze on a vessel heading toward the Malaysian holiday island of Langkawi in June 2022. However, the video has been shared in a misleading context. The footage has circulated in reports about a fire incident involving a ferry from Langkawi in 2019. The 22-second video was posted here on TikTok on June 16, 2022, where it has been viewed more than 870,000 times. Its Malaysian-language caption translates as: Hope everyone is safe Aminn. The video appears to show a ferry on fire with large clouds of smoke billowing from it. A man can be heard shouting in Malay: How can they jump down like that? The Malaysian-language text superimposed on the video reads: Ferry from Perlis to Langkawi caught fire, anyone knows anything, leave info in the comments section. Screenshot of the misleading TikTok post taken on June 20, 2022 Perlis is a state located on the northwestern coast of Peninsular Malaysia, while Langkawi is an island and a popular tourist destination 30 km off the coast of Perlis. The video also circulated with a similar claim on Facebook here and here , on TikTok here and on YouTube here . Some social media users seem to believe the incident happened recently, with one commenting in Chinese: Praying all is well, while another writing in Malaysian: God is great... hope everyone is safe. Below is a screenshot of Facebbook users' comments: Comments from social media users, taken on June 26, 2022 However, the video has been shared in a misleading context. A keyword search found the clip corresponds to the first 13 seconds of this video tweeted by Malaysian news agency Bernama on February 25, 2019. A ferry heading to Kuala Perlis caught fire in the waters of Langkawi, around 3 pm earlier, the Malaysian-language caption reads. All the passengers were rescued successfully, Bernama said. The post credits the video to the Fire Department. Kuala Perlis is a port town in Perlis. Sebuah feri yang menuju ke Kuala Perlis terbakar di perairan Langkawi, kira-kira pukul 3 petang tadi - Bomba Video awam pic.twitter.com/gWq2lB9uTj — BERNAMA TV (@BernamaTV) February 25, 2019 Below is a screenshot comparison of the video in the misleading post (L) and the genuine 2019 video (R): Screenshot comparison of the video in the misleading post (L) and the genuine 2019 video (R) On February 25, 2019, the Langkawi Fire and Rescue Station and Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency -- also known as the Malaysian Coast Guard -- separately uploaded photos of the fire on Facebook, which correspond with the scene in the footage. On the same day, the Malaysian broadcaster Astro Awani posted its report about the blaze on YouTube here , titled: Langkawi-Kuala Perlis passenger ferry caught fire. The video's description states the ferry, believed to belong to Dragon Star Shipping company, caught fire five minutes after departing from Langkawi's Kuah Jetty . The Marine Department of Malaysia said it suspended the ferry operator in March 2019 and barred it from running services between Langkawi, Kuala Perlis and Kuala Kedah , another port town in northwest Malaysia. The Malaysian Coast Guard also issued a Facebook statement on June 16, 2022, saying that the video was from an incident in 2019 and the ferry service operator involved was no longer in operation. AFP found no official reports of a Langkawi ferry catching fire in June 2022.
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