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| - Fact Check: Not Chambal and not even India! This 2021 video of a boy's rescue is from Bangladesh
A video showing how a boy narrowly escaped a terrible fate in the Chambal River went viral on social media. A green shape behind him was supposedly a crocodile. Read on to find out the truth.
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India Today Fact Check
This 2021 video is from Chandpur, Bangladesh. Local police dismissed claims of crocodiles in the water.
An unsettling video shows a child struggling to stay afloat in turbulent water. As the child cries for help, a green shape could be seen moving behind him under the water. Thankfully, things then take a turn for the better and a boat arrives. The boy is then pulled out of the water by one of the men on it.
This video purportedly shows how a boy narrowly escaped a terrible fate in the Chambal river, a tributary of the Yamuna River in central and northern India. The green shape behind him was supposedly a crocodile. Those sharing the video thanked the State Disaster Response Force for its timely action.
Thank You SDRF , SDFR , #
@ashokgehlot51 @GovindDotasra @rahulprakashIPS @pankajips2009 @girirajagl @MeenasSugrive @vinodkapri @ajitanjum @ravishndtv pic.twitter.com/h77LbBGXLq — Pintu Lal Meena (@PintuPahadi) August 24, 2022
Many shared the video with similar claims, including IRS officer Dr Bhageerath Choudhary. Subsequently, news outlets such as NDTV, DNA, the Navbharat Times, CNN-News18, Latestly, the Free Press Journal, and even India Today reported the story.
This is real heroic deed. Chambal river, crocodiles and the fighter kid. Salute to the rescue team. #Chambal pic.twitter.com/MvNVLV5pVy — Dr Bhageerath Choudhary IRS (@DrBhageerathIRS) August 24, 2022
But is this video from the Chambal river? AFWA's investigation found that the video is nearly a year old and not even from India. Archived versions of these posts can be seen here and here.
SO, WHERE’S THE VIDEO FROM?
We first noticed that Dr Choudhary mentioned in a later tweet that he was told this video might not have been from the Chambal river. He wrote, “Some say this video is not from Chambal. Irrespective of the source of this video undoubtedly the most heroic act it is. Any other info about the source. Please share.”
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Even the India Today report earlier mentioned that it was unable to ascertain if the video actually was from Chambal, going only by Dr Choudhary’s original tweet. It later updated the report.
Some says this video is not from Chambal. Irrespective of the source of this video undoubtedly the most heroic act it is. Any other info about the source. Please share. @PintuPahadi — Dr Bhageerath Choudhary IRS (@DrBhageerathIRS) August 25, 2022
When we reverse-searched frames from the video, it led us to the same clip posted on June 19 on Facebook. The video was geotagged to Sylhet, Bangladesh. However, no further details were provided.
The person who helped pull up the drowning boy was seen wearing a lungi, a popular attire in Bangladesh. It is also unlikely that a member of a disaster management team would carry out such an operation without proper uniform.
Subsequent refined searches in Bangla took us to a video uploaded to YouTube on August 27, 2021. It showed a similar boat rescuing a drowning boy from a water body. The caption mentioned this to be an incident from Chandpur Bay, where the Padma and the Meghna rivers meet the Bay of Bengal.
When we compared the boat, the boy and the people who were seen rescuing, it became clear that both the incidents were the same.
"This boy accidentally fell into the Chandpur Bay — he has now been rescued. Just see how dangerous Chandpur Bay is...", a voice was heard towards the end of the YouTube video speaking in Bangla.
When we Googled this place, we found news reports from the Bangladeshi media calling it a "mysterious deathtrap". Multiple news reports stated that drowning is a common occurrence here.
We reached out to Mohammad Hossain Tareq, a Bangladesh-based journalist who confirmed to AFWA that this incident is nearly a year old and from Chandpur. "This place is known as the Hilsa Sanctuary. The best quality Hilsa fish of Bangladesh can be found here. Also, as the place is near the ocean, the water current here remains very high, resulting in similar incidents at regular intervals," Tareq said.
WAS THERE A CROCODILE BEHIND THE BOY?
In the YouTube video, no crocodile was visible. We reached out to the local police from the Chandpur district in Bangladesh for further information. An officer who did not wish to be named dismissed the claim and said, "It is mainly the mischievous kids who sometimes get into trouble after getting into the water to catch Hilsa fish."
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Therefore, it is clear that a year-old rescue video from Bangladesh was shared as something that happened in the Chambal river in India.
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