Is the viral Morbi bridge video showing people kicking the cables recent?

Hyderabad: The collapse of a suspension bridge over the Machchhu river in Morbi, Gujarat, has led to the death of at least 141 people, as per the latest reports. The 135-year-old bridge (Jhoolto pul) was closed for seven months for repair and renovation work. It collapsed on the evening of 30 October, four days after it was reopened.

Following the collapse, social media is flooded with videos of the bridge, claiming that the collapse was deliberately executed.

Priti Gandhi, a BJP leader, shared the video and wrote, "A bunch of young men were seen on camera kicking the cables of the #MorbiBridge before it collapsed. Eyewitnesses have also confirmed the same."

The same conspiracy theory was peddled by other BJP leaders. (Click here and here to see the posts.)

Meanwhile, several other users shared Morbi bridge videos from 2018 and 2021 and claimed that the viral video is old and it has nothing to do with the recent collapse of the bridge. (Click here and here to see the claims)

Fact Check

NewsMeter compared the keyframes of the viral videos with the keyframes of the 2018 and 2021 videos but did not find them identical. Further, we analysed all videos and found that the viral video is not old and was most likely shot after the renovation of the bridge.

We analysed many videos of the bridge and found that the safety fence on the bridge used to be shorter earlier. In the 2018 and 2021 videos, the fence is around 4 feet, while in the viral video and the CCTV footage showing the collapse, the fence is around 6.5 feet. This confirms that the viral video was shot recently.

We also noticed that in the old videos a boundary wall at one end of the bridge used to be shorter. However, in the viral video and CCTV footage, the height of the boundary wall has increased.

Further, we confirmed the same on Google Earth. The aerial satellite image shows a shorter boundary wall in 2018 and a longer boundary wall in 2022.

It is evident that the viral video does not date back to 2018 or 2021. It was most likely shot recently but there is no evidence to support the claim that the activities seen in the viral video led to the collapse of the bridge.