No, video does not show boats with illegal immigrants arriving in Britain

What is the claim?

Social media users have posted a short video and screenshots from a video to claim that it shows illegal migrants arriving on boats in Britain. The screenshots show two boats packed with people arriving on a beach, with those aboard jumping off in quick succession to reach land.

One Facebook user from the U.K. posted a 56-second-long version of the video and wrote, "Reinforcements continue to arrive in Britain," seemingly implying that it shows illegal immigrants arriving in the United Kingdom. Another user from the U.K. posted a screenshot from the video with the same caption. The same video clip was also posted on YouTube with the caption, "A boat full of illegal immigrants has just landed on a beach in the UK." Archived versions of such posts can be seen here, here, and here. 

The video is also viral on X (formerly Twitter) and appears to be the platform where the claim originated from. 

Screenshots of social media posts falsely claiming that the viral video shows a boat crossing incident from the U.K. (Source: Screenshots/YouTube/X/Modified by Logically Facts)

This claim is being circulated in the aftermath of riots targeting Muslims and migrants in Britain after online posts falsely identified the suspected killer of three children in a July 29 knife attack as an Islamist migrant. It also comes amid reports of migrant boat crossings to Britain hitting a record high in recent months.  

However, the video is from Spain and reportedly from 2023; it is unrelated to the U.K. migrant boat crossings.

The origin of the video

A reverse image search on keyframes of the viral video led us to multiple news reports from 2023 carrying the same video clip as an incident from a beach in Adra, in southern Spain. 

We found the viral clip in a video uploaded with the caption, "Boats in Andra," (Translated from Spanish) on the YouTube channel of Spanish newspaper La Voz de Almería on July 31, 2023 (archived here). The same video was included in a short news report published on the same date by the same outlet with the headline, "This is how two boats land on the coast of Adra" (Translated from Spanish). The report added that the incident took place at Guainos in Adra when two boats arrived at high speed following which dozens of people disembarked from them. 

A screenshot from the viral video was also included in a report published on the website of the Spanish newspaper ABC on August 14, 2023. The caption of the photo indicated that it showed a boat filled with immigrants arriving in Guainos Bajos, Adra; the report spoke about the continuous arrival of immigrants to the province of Almeria in Spain, especially to the municipality of Adra.

Another more detailed report by Spanish media outlet IDEAL from July 31, 2023, also carried the viral video and mentioned that the incident took place that morning at a beach in Adra. The report, when translated from Spanish, added that similar incidents in the region had been reported in the last few weeks. This report identified the location as "on the coast of Adra, mainly between Lance de la Virgen and Guainos," where several such boat landings have been reported. 

Geolocation confirms video from Spain

We were able to geolocate the area seen in the viral video on Google Maps as 63 C. Carrerilla, Adra, Andalusia, located between the coastal neighborhoods of Lance de la Virgen and Guainos in Adra, southern Spain. 

Comparison between screenshots of the viral video and visuals from Google Maps showing the same location of a beach in Adra. (Source: Screenshots/Google Maps/Facebook/Modified by Logically Facts)

A comparison of multiple features of the location seen in the viral video, such as the stone bench, the rock outcrop, and the shrubbery, with visuals from Google Street View shows that the incident took place in Adra in southern Spain, not the U.K., as claimed. 

The verdict

The viral video actually shows an incident from southern Spain in which migrants reportedly illegally arrived in the country using boats in 2023. We could confirm through geolocation that the video in question was not filmed in the U.K. and thus has been falsely connected with the recent rise in migrant boat crossings in the U.K.