Fact Check: Claim that 17 women doctors from K'taka were killed in road accident is misleading
According to a viral social media post, 17 female doctors and professors of a Karnataka medical college died in a fatal bus accident on the Bengaluru-Pune highway.
By Newsmeter Network Published on 23 Jan 2021 4:22 AM GMT
Hyderabad: According to a viral social media post, 17 female doctors and professors of a Karnataka medical college died in a fatal bus accident on the Bengaluru-Pune highway.
A Facebook user shared photos of the incident and wrote, "RIP. 17 lady doctors all #gynaecologist professors of JJMM College Davengere, Karnataka going from Davengere to Goa on picnic trip died on spot on Bengaluru Pune highway when their minibus crashed with a sand laden tipper at DHARWAD at 7.30am on Friday."
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Fact Check:
NewsMeter found that the claim is misleading and that nine women had died in the accident.
We found several news reports that stated the incident took place on the Hubballi-Dharwad bypass road in Dharwad district of Karnataka.
According to Outlook and India Today, the women were students of the 1989 batch of Saint Paul's School, Devangere, and were reuniting for their annual alumni trip. They were going to Goa when their minibus collided with a truck on the Hubballi-Dharwad bypass road in north Karnataka on 15 January.
P. Krishnakant, the Dharwad superintendent of police (rural), told India Today that 11 people had died in the accident, of them nine were women. "The claim that all of those who died were doctors is not true. There was just one doctor. They were former students of St Paul's Convent at Davanagere," Krishnakant clarified.
It is clear that the viral claim that said 17 female doctors succumbing died in a road accident in Karnataka is MISLEADING.
