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| - Fact Check: Communal spin added to 2018 video of Colombian man getting electrocuted
The victim was reportedly suicidal and had climbed a transmission tower to jump to his death. As he tried to climb down, he accidentally touched a live wire.
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India Today Fact Check
Victor Jose Arroyo Gonzalez was reportedly trying to die by suicide by jumping when he accidentally touched a live wire. This happened in Colombia in 2018.
WARNING: Graphic content
A disturbing video of a man standing on top of a transmission tower and getting electrocuted has been shared on social media with some questionable claims. Allegedly, the man in the video was Muslim and he had climbed the tower to pray.
The archived version of one such claim can be seen here.
India Today found that this incident had happened in May 2018 in Colombia. The man, Victor Jose Arroyo Gonzalez, was not praying — he was trying to die by suicide.
Our Probe
Through reverse searches, we found the viral video’s screengrabs in a Metro report from May 16, 2018, which stated that this happened in Barranquilla in northern Colombia’s Atlantico department. Victor Jose Arroyo Gonzalez, a 20-year-old deaf man, reportedly climbed atop the pylon and threatened to jump off it. Per the report, he was suffering from depression and had threatened to die by suicide in the past as well.
Reportedly, police officers and onlookers had managed to convince Gonzalez to not jump. Unfortunately, however, while he was trying to climb down, he accidentally touched a live wire and instantly died of electrocution.
Many Spanish language websites had reported this incident at the time.
Geo-location
According to a May 2018 news report in the Spanish language news portal ZonaCero, this incident happened at the intersection of Calle 109 and Carrera 13B, in the Los Olivos neighbourhood of Barranquilla. Using Google Street View, we found a pylon at that intersection.
We looked at other videos of the incident, shot from different angles. In one of the videos, we noticed a white building adjacent to the tower, with two small and one large window and a slanting roof. There was also an electric pole near the building. We found the same markers on Street View. A comparison can be seen below.
The religious angle
India Today contacted Osvaldo Castilla Rojas, a Colombian journalist who had reported this incident back in 2018. Rojas rubbished the claim that the man had climbed the tower to offer namaz.
“He was a humble man with mental health issues who had climbed the same pylon earlier as well, with the intention to commit suicide. Unfortunately, that day he got electrocuted,” she said. However, she couldn’t confirm the man’s religion.
So, while we could not independently verify the man’s religion, it’s more than clear that a video of this tragic 2018 incident was shared with a communal spin.
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