| schema:text
| - Fact Check: Old video of man carrying dead child FALSELY linked to Tirupati stampede
This incident happened in April 2022 when a man, unable to afford the ambulance charges, had to carry his son's dead body for 90 km on a bike.
Listen to Story
India Today Fact Check
This video is from April 2022 when a man in Tirupati had to carry his son’s body on a bike for 90km as he couldn’t afford the ambulance charges.
At least six people died and over 30 were injured after a stampede at the Sri Venkateswara Swami Temple in Andhra Pradesh’s Tirupati on January 8. As per reports, the incident occurred when the gates were opened for thousands of people who were waiting to get a Vaikunta Dwara Darshan Ticket for the auspicious Ekadashi day, which falls on January 10.
A video of a man picking up the lifeless body of a child lying on a hospital stretcher, and then carrying it on a bike has now gone viral on social media. The video contained the text: "They asked 20,000 for an ambulance to transport a 12-year-old child who died in Tirupati Government Hospital. Childs father carries his son 90 KM due to lack of money!" Many people shared the video with hashtags like “Tirupati Stampede” and “Tirumala Stampede”. The archive of one such post can be seen here.
India Today Fact Check found that this video is from April 2022, when the father of a child who died at a government hospital in Tirupati had to carry his son’s body on a bike for 90km as he couldn’t afford the ambulance charges.
OUR PROBE
A quick keyword search led us to an April 27, 2022 OneIndia report featuring the viral video that said the incident was from Andhra Pradesh's Tirupati, where a man was forced to carry the body of his son on a bike for 90 km to reach his home after the ambulance drivers outside a government hospital allegedly demanded Rs 10,000.
According to The Times of India, the father of the dead child worked in a mango orchard. The child was admitted to Tirupati’s Sri Venkateswara Ramnarain Ruia Government General Hospital and died on April 25, 2022, due to kidney and liver failure. He waited for the government ambulance, but it never arrived. So, he approached the private ambulance operators who asked for Rs 10,000 to transport the child to his native place, Chitvel in Rajampet.
Reportedly, when an outside ambulance arranged by the man’s relatives arrived at the hospital to transport his son’s body for free, the private ambulance drivers standing there thrashed the driver and shooed him away. Left with no other choice, the man carried his son on his motorbike.
Following the incident, the hospital’s resident medical officer on duty, Dr Saraswati, was suspended. The superintendent, Dr Bharathi, was issued a show-cause notice. A criminal case was also registered against four ambulance drivers.
On January 9, after the Sri Venkateswara Swami Temple stampede, the Andhra Pradesh police issued a clarification regarding the viral video.
Regarding the recent Tirupati temple stampede incident, there have been reports of ambulances not being kept on standby at the token centres as per the guidelines. As per these reports, after the stampede, it took 15–20 minutes for ambulances to reach the spot.
Please share it on our at 73 7000 7000
You can also send us an email at factcheck@intoday.com
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)