Viral photo of 'Nepal earthquake victims' turns out to be 2007 photo of Vietnam kids

One of the most shared photos on social media after the Nepal earthquake which was said to be a picture of two children clinging to each other in the aftermath of the natural tragedy, actually turned out to be a file photo of two children in Vietnam. Moreover, the photo had actually been taken eight years ago in 2007. The picture had been taken by freelance photographer and writer Na-Son Nguyen, who tweeted about how his picture was being misused as a photo depicting the crisis in Nepal.

This is my photo about two Vietnamese Hmong ethnic children taken in 2007 in Ha Giang province, it's not about Nepal pic.twitter.com/yq04TsH6CF

— Na-Son Nguyen (@nasonnguyen) May 2, 2015

Nguyen also tweeted that his photo had been misused by the Indian media apart from being shared in the wrong context on social media. [caption id=“attachment_2228928” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] This photo is actually a 2007 picture of two kids in Vietnam. Image Courtesy: Na-Son Nguyen/Twitter[/caption]The photo, credited as ‘Two-year-old sister protected by four-year-old brother in Nepal’, went viral on Facebook and Twitter in less than a week, reported BBC. In fact, the photo was circulated to such a large extent that attempts were made to look for the children in the picture during rescue operations in Nepal, said the report. Nguyen said that the two children were playing while their parents were away when he came across them. Due to the presence of a stranger, the little girl started crying and her brother hugged her to comfort her. The Nepal earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale took place on 25 April and the death toll is over 7,500.