| schema:text
| - Fact Check: This mad, muddy river isn't seen ravaging Pakistan's Baluchistan, viral claim is misleading
The video of a flooded river violently gushing through a mountainous pass has gone viral on social media.
Listen to Story
India Today Fact Check
While it is true that flash floods have claimed several lives in Baluchistan, this video is unrelated to the calamity. It first appeared earlier in July as from Oman.
The video of a flooded river violently gushing through a mountainous pass has gone viral on social media. Several users shared the video claiming to be a scene after the recent dam bursts in Pakistan's Baluchistan.
"State of emergency has been imposed in #Balochistan after 8 dams burst. Heavy floods have killed 77 so far and around Quetta as more rains are expected in the next few days," a user wrote while sharing the video.
Similar claims have been archived here and here.
The India Today Anti Fake News War Room has found the claim to be misleading. This video went viral earlier in July when Oman witnessed devastating flash floods and rains.
AFWA Probe
We checked for weather updates from Baluchistan first. Media reports confirmed that Baluchistan is battling strong rains and floods for several days now. Over 63 deaths were reported in Baluchistan alone earlier this week. Latest reports suggest that the calamity has badly affected around 30,000 people.
These reports also confirmed that flash floods caused by the rains swept away multiple check dams and bridges in the province.
The origin of the video
We noticed that several users had contested the claim that the video was from Pakistan. They argued that the video was from Muscat -- the capital of Oman.
So, we searched the keyframes of the video using the InVID Tool. The top result received was from the verified Twitter handle of Al-Bayan newspaper. Owned by the Dubai government, the media tweeted the now-viral video on July 7, 2022.
"Overwhelmed by a rain storm in the Sultanate of Oman. #Flood," the translation of the Arabic tweet read.
# #_https://t.co/smpAL22NY8#__ pic.twitter.com/Eo1Jak1DUN — (@AlBayanNews) July 7, 2022
The tweet also had a link to the article on the development. "In the video.. torrential torrents due to the rain storm in the Sultanate of Oman," it was headlined.
According to this report, several Omani cities were flooded following heavy rains since the start of July. It also mentioned videos of the disaster being shared on social media from different parts of the country.
Another Arabic news article from July 7 that shared the same information can be read here.
As of July 15, the death toll caused by extreme weather conditions in Oman stands at 16. The Arab country remains at the receiving end of unstable weather for many days due to a low air pressure formation in the Arabian Sea.
When searched with the Arabic keywords used by Al-Bayan, we found the video tweeted by several users. Another hashtag that was recurrent in these tweets read 'Jebel Shams' in English.
# .. //#_ pic.twitter.com/wrXZYzsJAr — (@k_k_Aljahwari) July 7, 2022
# #_ #_ #_ pic.twitter.com/2nPRPELR4w — Reem AlHarthi (@77reemalharthi) July 7, 2022
Located in north-eastern Oman, the mountainous Jebel Shams were among the regions hit by flash floods. Several media outlets had reported about the ongoing efforts in the area to rescue trapped inhabitants.
A similar search on YouTube revealed that the video was uploaded on July 7 here as well. "HEAVY RAINY AT JABAL SHAMS IN OMAN," the YT Short video was titled.
Thus, it can be concluded that the video being shared as a visual of the recent flash floods in Pakistan's Baluchistan is unrelated to the calamity.
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)