This video shows the bodies of people killed in a Bangladeshi road accident -- not Covid-19 victims

This article is more than one year old.
Published on July 12, 2021 at 05:38
2 min read
By Qadaruddin SHISHIR, AFP Bangladesh

Facebook posts have shared a video showing body bags on gurneys lined up in front of a hospital, which they claim are Covid-19 victims at Mymensingh Hospital in Bangladesh. However, the claim is false. The video actually shows victims of a traffic accident in March 2021 at a different Bangladeshi hospital.

The video was posted here on Facebook on July 8, 2021 where it has been shared more than 5,000 times.

The post's Bengali-language caption reads: "This is not India. It's a scene from Mymensingh medical (hospital). Still there is time. Please, be aware before your beloved ones join this line of dead bodies."

Comments by Facebook users indicate people believed the image showed victims of the ongoing pandemic.

"Oh God, save us from this pandemic," one user wrote.

"Coronavirus is a curse for us," another commented.

A screenshot of the misleading Facebook post, taken on July 11, 2021.

'Mymensingh medical' refers to the Mymensingh Medical College Hospital in Mymensingh, Bangladesh.

The video was also posted here, here and here with similar captions.

However, the claim is false.

A keyword search in Facebook found similar footage had previously been broadcast by local media outlets in reports about a major road accident on March 26, 2021 in Rajshahi, a northern district of Bangladesh.

Bangladeshi online news portal Silkcitynews.com live broadcast this similar footage on March 26 with a Bengali caption that reads: ‘‘17 people were killed in a head-on collision between a bus and minibus -- live from the hospital morgue."

( Qadaruddin SHISHIR)

Below is a comparison between the misleading post (L) and the live broadcast footage (R) from Rajshahi Medical College Hospital:

( Qadaruddin SHISHIR)

Another comparative look between the two videos:

( Qadaruddin SHISHIR)

Newspaper reports, for example here from the Daily Star, said at the time that 17 people were killed near Katakhali Police Station of Rajshahi on March 26, with the bodies being taken to Rajshahi Medical College Hospital.

Bulbul Habib, a Rajshahi correspondent for The Business Standard newspaper, confirmed the video shows hospital scenes after the road crash.

Brigadier General Shameem Yazdany, Director of Rajshahi Medical College Hospital, told AFP that the misleading video showed the victims of the March 26, 2021 road accident.

"I was there on the scene at that time. Dead bodies were kept there for identification by the relatives," he said.

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