Fact Check: Old WB bus mishap passed off as recent incident in Andhra
A video of a bus with passengers getting swept away in a flooded river is viral on social media. Users claim that the incident took place in Andhra Pradesh recently.
By Newsmeter Network Published on 23 Nov 2021 4:13 AM GMT
Hyderabad: A video of a bus with passengers getting swept away in a flooded river is viral on social media. Users claim that the incident took place in Andhra Pradesh recently.
"Due to the excessive amount of flooding, people who got on top of the bus lost their lives. Eventually, the bus and the people were both swept along with the floodwater. Locals say that it could be at least 50 people. A storm like this has caused an extreme amount of damage. There is no response from YS Jagan and his officials. Loss of property, loss of crops, and loss of life, there is nobody who can accurately estimate how many lives have been lost. All these people wake up and cry about politics and about themselves, but nobody actually cares (sic)," reads the English translation of the message in Telugu.
NewsMeter received the claim on WhatsApp for a fact-check.
The video is also viral on Facebook.
Fact Check:
NewsMeter found the claim to be false.
Firstly, NewsMeter extracted the keyframes using the InVid tool and performed a keyword search. We found that this video was available on YouTube since 2014. It means the video is not recent. The title of the video read, "Bus and Passengers Washed Away in West Bengal River 2012".
We found another video on Youtube uploaded by 'ABP News' on September 7, 2012, with a description: A bus carrying around 70 passengers was washed away when it was crossing a flooded bridge over the Bhairabbanki river in West Bengal's Bankura district.
The team found a news report by 'News18' dated back to September 7, 2012. According to the report, a bus carrying 50 passengers fell into the Bhairabanki river in Bankura after the driver lost control over the vehicle when it crossed a flooded bridge. The report also carried a similar image.
Furthermore, we found an official account of the Fact Check Wing of the Government of Andhra Pradesh, which debunked the claim. It tweeted that this is 9-year-old footage of a bus mishap in West Bengal. It further stated that the duration of the original video is 84 seconds. It is an edited version to mislead people.
Hence, the claim is false. 9-year-old footage is being shared as a recent AP flood condition.
