An image of coffins showing the victims of COVID-19 in Italy.
Italy has reported the highest number of COVID-19 deaths and infections in Europe. As of March 19, the country had 41,035 cases and 3,405 deaths, surpassing the 3,133 deaths reported in China., While a reverse image search shows that the image was taken in Italy, it shows the coffins of African immigrants drowned when the boat they were in sank off the Italian island of Lampedusa. It was taken in October 2013, and has been credited to Tullio M. Puglia., An article by the BBC reporting on the incident states that the boat, which was estimated to have 500 passengers, had left Misrata in Libya when its engine stalled. The passengers lit a fire as a distress signal, but it spread to the rest of the boat. More than 100 people died and 200 others could not be accounted for., PesaCheck has looked into this post claiming to show coffins of COVID-19 victims in Italy and finds it to be MISLEADING., This post is part of an ongoing series of PesaCheck fact-checks examining content marked as potential misinformation on Facebook and other social media platforms., By partnering with Facebook and similar social media platforms, third-party fact-checking organisations like PesaCheck are helping to sort fact from fiction. We do this by giving the public deeper insight and context to posts they see in their social media feeds., Have you spotted what you think is fake news or false information on Facebook? Here’s how you can report. And, here’s more information on PesaCheck’s methodology for fact-checking questionable content., This fact-check was written by PesaCheck Fact-Checker James Okong’o and edited by PesaCheck Deputy Editor Ann Ngengere., The article was approved for publication by PesaCheck Managing Editor Eric Mugendi., PesaCheck is East Africa’s first public finance fact-checking initiative. It was co-founded by Catherine Gicheru and Justin Arenstein, and is being incubated by the continent’s largest civic technology and data journalism accelerator: Code for Africa. It seeks to help the public separate fact from fiction in public pronouncements about the numbers that shape our world, with a special emphasis on pronouncements about public finances that shape government’s delivery of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) public services, such as healthcare, rural development and access to water / sanitation. PesaCheck also tests the accuracy of media reportage. To find out more about the project, visit pesacheck.org., PesaCheck is a joint initiative of Code for Africa, through its innovateAFRICA fund, with additional funding support from the International Budget Partnership (Kenya) and Twaweza, in partnership with a coalition of local media organisations, and the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ)., Written by, Written by
FALSE: This image of coffins in Italy was taken in 2013, not 2020