Video of TTE collapsing goes viral falsely claiming his earphone picked up electric current through internet
A video of a man falling on a railway track is being shared with the claim that his earphone picked up the electric current through the internet from the high-voltage electric cable at the railway station.
By Md Mahfooz Alam Published on 24 Dec 2022 9:59 AM GMT
Hyderabad: A video of a man falling on a railway track is being shared with the claim that his earphone picked up the electric current through the internet from the high-voltage electric cable at the railway station.
NewsMeter received the video on its WhatsApp tipline number to verify the claim.
A Facebook user shared the video and wrote, "The person got a heavy shock picked up by the earphones when he is standing close to the high-tension overhead railway cableā¦"
Fact Check
NewsMeter performed a reverse image search of the video's keyframe and came across a tweet by journalist Pooja Mehta. She had posted the same video on 8 December and said in an accident at Kharagpur railway station, a cable wire fell on the head of a travelling ticket examiner (TTE) standing on the platform.
She also mentioned that the TTE suffered burn injuries and is out of danger.
Taking a cue from this, we ran a keyword search and found that India Today had reported the incident on 8 December. The report carried the video and said a Railway official, Sujan Singh Sardar, suffered burn injuries after a high-voltage wire snapped over his head while he was standing on a platform at Kharagpur railway station.
Kharagpur DRM Mohammad Sujat Hashmi told India Today that the accident might have been caused by birds as they often pick up small wires.
Hindustan Times and The Times of India also reported that a TTE was injured at West Bengal's Kharagpur railway station after a live wire fell on him.
We also found a video report by Zee 24 Ghanta from 7 December. DRM Mohammed Shujat Hashmi, speaking to the media, confirmed that Sujan Singh was out of danger and that the accident occurred when a wire fell on him.
It is evident that the viral video shows a man collapsing at a railway station after a live wire fell on him. Hence, the claim that he collapsed because his earphone picked up electric current through the internet is misleading.
