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| - Fact Check: Viral video of mysterious floating island found near Mumbai was a joke!
A video claiming to show an island which popped -up overnight in the sea near Mumbai went viral recently. India Today Fact Check investigated the veracity of the claim.
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India Today Fact Check
The staged video of the rock-like structure was shot by local fishermen just for fun. This stone structure is known to them since ages.
Stories of newly found islands always captivate our imagination! An edited YouTube video claims that a mysterious new island has suddenly come up off the coast of Mumbai. This video has created quite a buzz on social media as many shared it believing the story to be true. India Today Fact Check found that this is a staged video shot by local fishermen just for fun!
This one-minute fourteen-second long video was uploaded on Youtube on December 27 last year. The caption reads "#floatingisland Floating Island spotted near coast of Mumbai". This is an edited video with graphics and background music.
It begins with a long shot of a rock-like structure in the middle of green waters. Someone can be heard shouting "Look how big the rock is!" in Hindi. English translations appear on the screen.
Shortly, a graphic comes on screen and claims that "A mysterious island has been spotted off the coast of Mumbai". The video claims that Mumbai's fishermen have never seen this island and that they got terrified after they found the "floating island
The video and the story have been shared by many web portals, blogging sites, YouTubers and individual users.
On January 2, 2019 eminent radio jockey and actor Malishka posted the unedited version of the same video on Twitter.
Haila! Agar fishermen went .... Have you seen this new island thing on the sea? I’m gonna figure this out. Boyses get to the fishermen! @malishkakeboys pic.twitter.com/uy3h57vrwb Mumbai Ki Rani (@mymalishka) January 2, 2019
The video features a man clad in a blue T-shirt. The man is asked to look around, apparently by the person shooting the video. The person starts talking about the rock in the sea. He asks someone to try to reach the floating rock but he responds saying that it looks scary and that they should turn around. The video ends as it shows that these people are on a local fishing boat.
We spoke to many fishermen in Mumbai and showed them the video. Some of them recognized the fishermen in the video and said they are from Madh island in north Mumbai.
One of the fishermen in Madh told us that the video was made by some people in the village and that they were amazed at how it became viral. The rock-like structure surrounded by water can clearly be seen when one takes a boat from Madh island.
The fishermen confirmed that this was not an unknown rock structure in the sea. All fishermen who venture out in the sea take their boats around the hill and fishing nets tied up around the hill can be seen.
The fishermen confirmed to India Today correspondent that this video was made by some of their fellow villagers
"There is nothing new. Not just me but the hill has been in existence during my grandfather and forefathers' time as well," said one villager.
According to these fishermen, the hill is revered by the community and it is called "Kasa dongar". In Marathi, a hill is called dongar.
Santosh Koli, president of Madh Daryadi Machimar Sahkari Society, a local fishermen association confessed that this video was shot by some young boys of the community. According to him, they made this video just for fun and people should not take it seriously.
"A few days ago they were going to catch fish when they decided to make this video. They take part in plays during Holi and were just using their skills while making this video. This video should not be taken seriously as it is only a joke" reassured Koli.
"Mumbai Tak" the digital news platform of India Today group has already debunked this claim.
The story can be seen here.
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You can also send us an email at factcheck@intoday.com
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