Fact Check: Los Angeles snakes’ import goes loose on airport tarmac? No, viral video is from Canada
A video of creatures slithering on an airport’s tarmac has gone viral as Los Angeles’ cargo of snake imports by Lufthansa Airlines becoming public.
By M Ramesh Naik Published on 20 Jan 2025 7:48 PM IST
Claim: The video of creatures wriggling on an airport’s tarmac shows snakes that Los Angeles was importing using Lufthansa Airlines.
Fact: The claim is false. The video shows eels wriggling at Vancouver International Airport in Canada.
Hyderabad: A video of snake-like creatures slithering on an airport’s tarmac allegedly after escaping from a cargo box has gone viral with the claim that Los Angeles, USA, imported snakes using Lufthansa Airlines.
The video was shared by a Facebook user with the caption, “Lufthansa Airlines imports snakes in Los Angeles (sic).” The text on the video clip makes the same statement in Telugu. (Archive)
Fact Check
NewsMeter found that the claim is false. The viral video is not related to Lufthansa Airlines or Los Angeles but is from Vancouver International Airport (YVR), Canada.
A reverse image search of a keyframe from the video led us to an India TV article titled, ‘Internet abuzz over video showing eels wriggling on Canada airport’s tarmac,’ published on July 12, 2024.
The report contained what looked like screenshots of a video showing the same wriggly creatures on an airport’s tarmac, similar to the viral video in the claim.
According to the report, the video was captured at Vancouver International Airport where eels were found scattered on the tarmac.
The report stated: “Reports indicate these eels were part of a shipment transported by an Air Canada Cargo plane from Toronto to Vancouver. The footage reveals a damaged container on a still conveyor belt, from which eels measuring around half a meter emerged, falling onto the ground.”
The report said approximately twelve eels were seen wriggling on the tarmac.
The article also embedded an X post which showed the video of the incident from a different angle. The caption also mentioned the place as ‘Vancouver International Airport (YVR), Canada on 09 July’.
Here is the comparison of the video.
We also found a report about the incident by Daily Hive published on July 10, 2024. According to the report, the incident occurred on July 7, 2024. It also embedded the same video embedded in the India TV report post from X.
We also found similar reports of the same incident by NDTV, News18 (published on July 12) and YouTube video news reports by Global News and CBC British Columbia published on July 11, 2024.
Therefore, we conclude that the claim is false. The viral clip doesn’t show snakes and is unrelated to Lufthansa Airlines or Los Angeles.
