This video of a motorbike in a flooded sewer was filmed in Maharashtra state, not Mumbai
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on July 19, 2019 at 10:20
- 3 min read
- By AFP India
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The video was shared here in a Facebook post on July 8, 2019. It has been viewed more than 61,000 times.
The post's caption states: “Manhole swallows bike in Chembur. Present situation in Mumbai . #mumbairain #mumbaiheavyrain #mumbaiflood Please share, comment and like to reach max and to make people alert.”
The clip shows a small group of men attempting to pull an almost entirely submerged motorbike from a flooded sewer at the side of a road.
Below is a screenshot of the misleading Facebook post:
Chembur is an eastern residential suburb in Mumbai.
Here is a July 1, 2019 AFP report over heavy rains and flooding in Mumbai.
The same video has been shared here and here on Facebook, here on Twitter and here on YouTube with a similar claim.
But the video was not filmed in Chembur -- it shows an incident in a town called Jalna in Maharashtra state.
An advanced search on Twitter found that journalist Abhijit Deshmukh posted the same video here on Twitter on July 3, 2019.
So good to see the drought areas of Maharashtra recieving good rainfall. Video from my hometown #Jalna #Maharashtra#Rain pic.twitter.com/wVzJOQhpFG
— Abhijit Deshmukh (@iabhijitdesh) July 3, 2019
The tweet says: “So good to see the drought areas of Maharashtra recieving (sic) good rainfall. Video from my hometown #Jalna #Maharashtra #Rain”.
Deshmukh repeated that the video was from Jalna in the comment section of the tweet when other users expressed doubt.Below is a screenshot of the comments on his tweet:
Abhijit subsequently posted another video of the location of incident and the surrounding neighbourhood here on Twitter on July 9, 2019, to clarify that video is actually from Jalna and not from Chembur.
A caption alongside the second video in his tweet reads: “@mybmc proof that manhole video claimed to be of Chembur, is actually Jalna, Maharashtra. If Anyone has doubts about it, pls visit near SB high school, Jalna, Maharashtra and confirm it again. Credits of this video to my nephew Vedant Deshmukh who has recorded it on my request.”
@mybmc proof that manhole video claimed to be of Chembur, is actually Jalna, Maharashtra. If Anyone has doubts about it, pls visit near SB high school, Jalna, Maharashtra and confirm it again. Credits of this video to my nephew Vedant Deshmukh who has recorded it on my request. pic.twitter.com/MDpnZTSo12
— Abhijit Deshmukh (@iabhijitdesh) July 9, 2019
An advertisement board for D's photo studio on Kacheri Road can be seen in both of Abhijit's videos.
Facebook user Pramod Totla also posted the same video here on July 2, 2019.
“Today’s incident near Town Hall in Jalna,” said the caption in Marathi, the regional language of the state of Maharashtra.
The municipal corporation of Mumbai also issued this statement on the misleading video.
The tweet says: “Mumbai, a humble request, in times of crisis, especially on days when the city is braving heavy showers, the biggest service one could do is not to spread rumours & misinformation,especially not unverified videos Please restrain from creating panic & unrest with false information”.
Mumbai, a humble request, in times of crisis, especially on days when the city is braving heavy showers, the biggest service one could do is not to spread rumours & misinformation,especially not unverified videos Please restrain from creating panic & unrest with false information
— माझी Mumbai, आपली BMC (@mybmc) July 8, 2019
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