The video has circulated online since at least 2010

This article is more than one year old.
Published on September 17, 2019 at 10:30
2 min read
By AFP India, AFP Sri Lanka

A video that shows a bridge collapsing in floodwaters has been viewed thousands of times on social media alongside a claim that the incident took place in the Indian state of Maharashtra in August 2019. The claim is false; the video has been circulating online since at least 2010.

The 2:40 video has been viewed more than 8,500 times since it was posted here on a Facebook page with more than 27,000 followers on August 13, 2019.

The caption of the post reads: “Bijapur Solapur Takali bridge collapsed, Maharashtra, India 13August2019”.

Bijapur, also known as Vijayapura, is a city in India’s Karnataka state, while the city of Solapur is located in Maharashtra.

The caption is referring to the Takali bridge which is along the Bijapur-Solapur highway that connects Maharashtra and Karnataka.

Much of India was hit by deadly floods in August 2019. AFP reported here on August 10 that at least 27 people were killed in Maharashtra.

Below is a screenshot of the misleading post:

Screenshot of the Facebook post.

Longer versions of the video have been viewed thousands of times here on Facebook and here on Youtube alongside a similar claim.

The claim is false. The video does not show a bridge collapse in August 2019 -- the footage has been circulating online since at least 2010.

A speaker of Odia, a language widely spoken in the eastern Indian state of Odisha, analysed the video for AFP and identified the language being spoken in the video as Odia.

A Google keyword search about flooding in Odisha led to the same video published here on YouTube on November 13, 2010.

Screenshot of the Youtube video.

The video, entitled “Gumuda Bridge Collapse.3gp”, states that the bridge collapsed after flooding in the Bandhasara River.

But the 2010 video purports to show the Gumuda Bridge, which runs across the Bansadhara River. It was washed away in 2007 and reopened to traffic in 2016, according to Indian newspaper The Times of India.

Below are two sets of screenshot comparison of the video in the misleading post (L) and the 2010 YouTube video (R):

Screenshot comparison of the video in the misleading post (L) and the 2010 YouTube video (R)

This is not the first time the footage has appeared alongside false claims.

Indian news website The Quint wrote that the video also went viral in 2017, alongside a claim that it was shot in the eastern state of Bihar.

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