Views from the boat capsize in Ha Long: using AI to 'draw' a story to rub salt into the wound

In recent days, the capsized tourist boat Blue Bay 58 (QN-7105) in Ha Long Bay on the afternoon of July 19, causing 35 deaths and 4 missing people, has shocked and saddened public opinion. The incident has not yet subsided, but many fanpages have taken advantage of AI to fabricate stories.

On shore, the families of the victims were in an atmosphere of grief. The trip had been planned for a long time, but it turned into a trip with no return date. Many people expressed their deep sympathy, condolences, and encouragement to the victims' relatives to overcome such a great loss.

While official information about the incident is still being continuously updated by the authorities, unfortunately, on social networks, many articles have appeared exploiting the stories and pain of the victims of the train capsize to attract views and interactions.

It is worth mentioning that a page called MCO took advantage of this tragedy to attract interactions. Using artificial intelligence (AI) technology, this fan page created illustrations and created fictional, dramatic stories with content and characters that made many people mistakenly believe it was related to the shipwreck.

Notably, the content of the articles is often staged in detail, interspersed with many tragic details, separation, life and death, making many people mistakenly believe that the story is true. The common trick is to attract readers, the article often ends abruptly, with the capitalized line at the end of the article "READ MORE IN THE COMMENT". When clicking, users will be taken to websites with many advertisements, profiting the fanpage owner.

Although the article includes notes such as "These are fictional details" or "Images are for illustrative purposes only" , these lines are written very small, difficult to see, making it difficult for readers to observe.

In fact, under these posts, many social media users did not realize that this was just a fabrication and left many comments expressing their regret and condolences to the non-existent characters. In just a short time, these types of posts have sprung up in series, even being shared by other fanpages, contributing to the spread of false information, causing public confusion and rubbing salt into the pain of the victims' families.

However, there have been many timely comments pointing out the tricks of attracting views, condemning the act of profiting from the pain of others, and reminding the community to be alert and not to share or spread unverified information.

Not stopping there, some accounts and information pages have used images and videos from old accidents at home and abroad, labeled "Ship capsized in Ha Long", "Horrifying moment in Quang Ninh", "Camera records scene of sinking ship"... to attract views and followers.

According to lawyer Bui Thi Anh Tuyet (Ho Chi Minh City Bar Association), Decree 14/2022 amending and supplementing Decree 15/2020 clearly stipulates that the act of taking advantage of social networks to post fabricated information can be subject to an administrative fine of 10-20 million VND. In addition to the fine, violators must also remove false or misleading information.

At the same time, those who create false content to "get likes" can also be criminally prosecuted under Article 288 of the Penal Code with a fine of 30-200 million VND or imprisonment of 6 months to 3 years. In serious cases, the fine can be up to 1 billion VND and imprisonment of 2-7 years.

Previously, the tragic accident occurred on the afternoon of July 19, when the tourist boat Blue Bay 58 (license plate QN-7105) capsized while carrying tourists to visit Ha Long Bay. At the time of the accident, there were a total of 49 people on board, including the crew.

As of the afternoon of July 20, authorities had rescued 10 people from the capsized boat. The total number of victims found dead was 35, of whom 31 have been identified, and 4 are still missing.

Lieutenant Colonel Cu Quoc Thang, Deputy Director of Quang Ninh Provincial Police, said that rescue forces are continuing to expand the search area under the coordination of the Rescue Command Center. The search for the remaining victims is taking place in difficult conditions, as the sea area is affected by storm No. 3.

Blue Bay 58 ship capsized in Ha Long: shocking photo revealed, exonerating 'knowing the storm but still going' Lan Chi13:01:58 20/07/2025Social media is constantly buzzing with the news that a tourist boat carrying passengers to visit Ha Long Bay suddenly encountered a storm and capsized in Gia Luan area (Cat Hai, Quang Ninh), causing dozens of deaths, and 5 people are still missing and have not been found.