Claim: 150 school children were swept away after floods hit Buner district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Fact: This claim is false. Our investigation and data from district authorities, along with confirmations from police, journalists, and social workers on the ground, revealed that no such incident took place.
On 16 August 2025, a blue verified X account Gilgit Baltistan Tourism made a claim in a post in Urdu:
انا للہ وانا الیہ راجعون
بونیر کی ایک سکول بچوں سمیت سیلابی ریلے میں بہہ گئی ہے
بونیر کے سکول میں 150 بچے تھے سیلاب کے بعد نہ سکول ہے اور نہ بچے
اللہ تعالیٰ ان معصوم بچوں کی مغفرت فرمائے، ان کے والدین کو صبر جمیل عطا کرے
Translation: [Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji’un A school in Buner has been swept away by flash floods, including children. There were 150 children in a school in Buner, but after the flood there are no schools or children. May Allah forgive these innocent children and grant patience to their parents.]
Hundreds killed in flash floods
Pakistan is currently facing climate-induced flash floods across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, Punjab, and Sindh. The disaster has killed hundreds and caused widespread destruction, harkening back to the catastrophic 2022 floods.
The death toll from flash floods in Pakistan has risen to over 819, according to media reports, which cited the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA); more than 410 fatalities among these took place in KP.
At least 6,138 livestock also perished, according to data compiled by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), as of 28 August.
ReliefWeb, an information portal by the United Nations (UN) Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said on 26 August that Buner — a district in KP — was hit hardest with the highest number of people killed at 228.
Upwards of 1,000 people have been injured since 6 June and 7,225 houses destroyed, as of 17 August 2025. “The affected districts include Swat, Buner, Bajaur, Torghar, Mansehra, Shangla, and Battagram,” the KP government said.
At least 89 trucks worth of aid was delivered to affected districts on the orders of KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, KP’s provincial government said in a post on X, adding that the PDMA has released PKR 800 million to the affected districts and PKR 500 million to Buner. PKR 1 billion was also provided to the Rescue and Relief Department to support flood affectees.
A meeting about the flood situation, held on 17 August 2025 at the Malakand Commissioner’s office and chaired by Gandapur, was briefed that the city of Mingora was most severely affected.
Rescue officials and district administration have appealed to people to relocate to safer areas as Swat became victim to flooding yet again on 18 August, Express News’ Urdu website reported.
In an update on 15 August, the KP government said, “On the directives of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa health advisor, a health emergency has been imposed in the flood- and rain-affected districts (Buner, Swat, Mansehra, Bajaur, Mohmand, Abbottabad), flood control rooms established, all medical staff put on high alert, leaves canceled, and treatment [of patients] in hospitals continues uninterrupted.”
“Rescue officials evacuated 2,071 individuals to safe locations,” it added.
“The provincial rescue agency told AFP that about 2,000 rescue workers were engaged in recovering bodies from the debris and carrying out relief operations in nine affected districts,” The Guardian reported.
Many of the residents were caught off guard, with one telling Al Jazeera that the floodwater “came so fast that many could not leave their homes”.
“Climate change has directly amplified the triggers of cloudbursts in Pakistan, especially. Every 1°C rise allows the air to hold about 7% more moisture, increasing the potential for heavy rainfall in short bursts,” ABC News said, quoting experts.
The situation is made worse because of the unexpectedness of this phenomenon, with Pakistani officials saying “a warning to allow evacuations was not possible, as the cloudburst struck before residents could be alerted”, ITV reported.
On 26 August, Pakistan warned of a “very high to exceptionally high” flood risk in Punjab, citing heavy rains combined with India’s release of water from two dams.” Since then, 200,000 people have been evacuated from different districts of Punjab, reported BBC. On 27 August, the Punjab government requested army assistance in six districts to support civil authorities with rescue and relief efforts. NDMA advised residents in vulnerable areas to avoid rivers, drains, and low-lying zones.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif pledged full federal support to regional authorities for the management of flood risks in cities including Gujrat, Sialkot, and Lahore.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check investigated the claim since unverified reports of casualties can create public panic. A keyword search in English and Urdu on Facebook, X, and Google, using terms such as ‘Buner, flood, 150 school children, swept away’, did not yield any credible news reports to verify the claim.
However, Soch Fact Check did come across a video showing a school building surrounded by floodwaters. In the clip, a person can be heard speaking in Pashto, saying: “The floods are taking everything, my brother’s shop was destroyed, God have mercy on us.” The video, however, does not show any children being swept away. Soch Fact Check also conducted a reverse image search of the video, but it did not yield any credible news reports to verify the claim of 150 children’s deaths.
Sheraz Ahmed Sherazi, a reporter with 360 News – a Pakistani news outlet, who covered the Buner floods on the ground – confirmed over a phone call that no such incident occurred at a school. Sherazi explained that while a few children had died, the number in the viral post is exaggerated, as students staying in schools had been safely evacuated. He added that the rumor emerged after reports of devastation from the region, but it was later confirmed to be false.
For further verification, Soch Fact Check also reached out to Asmar Khan, a photographer and social worker in Buner. In a WhatsApp message, he confirmed that no such incident took place. Khan noted, however, that more than 200 people have died in the floods, but this number does not include 150 school children, as claimed in the viral post.
Soch Fact Check also contacted Mr. Ejaz Khan, Public Relations Officer at the District Police Office Buner, who confirmed via WhatsApp that the viral claim is false. He clarified that while seven children and a school teacher were swept away in the Gokand region of Buner district, the figure of 150 children is incorrect and spreads misinformation.
District Management Authority Buner, Special Daily Report, 28th August 2025
He further verified this with data from the District Management Authority, Buner (shown below), which makes no mention of 150 children missing or killed. According to the latest update from the District Management, 236 people have been reported dead in Buner.
Soch Fact Check also reviewed the latest data (archived) from NDMA, which shows that as of 28 August, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province had reported a total of 479 deaths, including 84 children. It is important to note that the data is updated daily, and given the scale of the disaster, some figures may remain unreported. This is a developing story, and the numbers are subject to change.
Virality
The claim that 150 children were swept away during the floods in Buner was shared on X by multiple users, including posts here, here, here, and here.
On Facebook, the claim was shared here, here, and here.
Conclusion: The claim that 150 children were swept away during the August 2025 floods in Buner is false. No such incident has been reported. Verified sources on the ground confirmed that children in schools were safely evacuated, and the viral posts are based on unverified rumors.
Background image in cover photo: AFP
To appeal against our fact-check, please send an email to appeals@sochfactcheck.com