Hoax – Picture of Sharks Swimming In Flooded Kuwait Scientific Center

The image is the result of digital manipulation and it does not depict the result of a shark tank collapse in Kuwait, or anywhere else. The source picture shows Toronto’s Union Station after water from a damaged sewer pipe inundated the building. There are no sharks in the original picture.

This message, which circulates via social media posts and email and has also been posted to many blogs and websites, features an image supposedly depicting sharks swimming in a flooded building lobby at the base of a pair of escalators. The message claims that the picture depicts the result of a shark tank collapse at the Scientific Center in Kuwait and suggests that users share the image because they are unlikely to see such an event again.

However, things are not what they seem. The picture is the result of a clever digital manipulation in which the sharks have been added to a photograph of a flooded subway station. The original – sharkless – photograph (included below) can be seen on the CBCNews website and was uploaded on June 1st 2012 by “Your News” user Jenny Porter. The photograph shows a part of Toronto, Canada’s Union Station after a surge of rainwater and sewerage unexpectedly inundated the building due to sewerage construction work in the city:

Image credit: Jenny Porter/CBCNews

Thus it seems that some prankster has taken the original picture and added in the sharks from another image source. And, the picture has no connection to the Scientific Center in Kuwait, which does feature a large – and still very much intact – aquarium.

Ironically, back in 2010, a shark-filled aquarium at a large mall in Dubai did crack, causing a precautionary evacuation of the building and some leakage. However, the breach was quickly contained and none of the aquarium’s residents escaped to swim the mall and none were harmed.

Although it is currently unclear who created the fake shark image, it seems likely that it was intended only as a harmless prank.