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Old Video Of Charred Bodies From Bus Accident In Odisha Falsely Linked To Birbhum Violence In West Bengal
West Bengal, 25 March 2022 10:18 AM GMT
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A video of charred bodies is going viral on social media with the claim that it is of the West Bengal Incident. The Logical Indian Fact Check team verifies the incident.
Eight people have died in the violence that erupted after the TMC leader's murder in West Bengal's Birbhum district. The furious mob set 10 to 12 houses on fire. According to the reports, 8 people died in this horrifying incident. In the same backdrop, a video of charred bodies is going viral on social media. In the viral video, several burnt bodies of women and children lying on the ground can be seen. People shared this video on social media claiming to be scenes from the West Bengal Incident.
A Twitter user shared this video with a Hindi caption that reads, "TMC के जिहादी गुंडों ने बंगाल में 10 महिलाओं और 2 बच्चों समेत 12 आदिवासी हिंदुओं को जिंदा जला दिया है."
[English Translation: TMC's jihadi goons have burnt alive 12 tribal Hindus including 10 women and 2 children in Bengal.]
[Trigger Warning: The Logical Indian has not embedded the video due to its graphic nature and strong language. The video link is here.]
Another user wrote, "TMC के गुंडों ने बंगाल में 10 महिलाओं और 2 बच्चों समेत 12 आदिवासी हिंदुओं को जिंदा जला दिया है। पर यह बर्बर आतंकी कृत्य देश के सभी न्यूज चैनल से गायब है! कोई भी कुछ नही बोल रहा ।मेरे हिसाब से सरकार को TMC के लिए आतंकवादी संगठन घोषित कर देना चाहिए."
[English Translation: TMC goons have burnt alive 12 tribal Hindus including 10 women and 2 children in Bengal. But this barbaric terrorist act is missing from all the news channels of the country! No one is saying anything. According to me, the government should declare TMC as a terrorist organization.]
It is being widely shared on Twitter with a similar claim.
Claim:
The viral video shows the charred bodies of victims who died in West Bengal violence.
Fact Check:
The Logical Indian fact check team verified the claim and found it to be false. The viral video is almost two years old, when a bus accident was reported in the Golanthara area of Ganjam district in Odisha.
We extracted different keyframes from the viral video using the InVid tool and conducted a Google reverse image search. The result led us to a video report published by a YouTube channel, Asian Times, on February 9, 2020. The incident was reported from Odisha and carried similar visuals as in the viral video and was titled "हाईटेंशन लाइन की चपेट में आई बस".
Taking a clue from here, we searched on YouTube with specific keywords that reported the Bus accident incident in 2020. Other channels such as Kanak News and OTV reported the mishap which took place on February 9, 2020, which led to the death of at least nine people, injuring 35. The incident happened when a Chikarada-bound bus coming from Jangalpadu came in contact with an 11-kilo volt (KV) power transmission line near the Golanthara area of Ganjam district in Odisha. In the accident, at least 10 people were electrocuted and were burnt to death.
We also compared the visuals shown in these video reports to the viral video and found them similar.
Comparison OF BUS FROM VIRAL VIDEO & REPORT (Credits: Asian Times)
The Ganjam mishap was also reported by ANI on Twitter. The new agency had shared the visuals and captioned, "Odisha: At least 6 persons dead and around 40 passengers injured after the bus they were travelling in caught fire after coming in contact with 11 KV live electric wire in Ganjam district, Brahmapur. Injured persons have been sent to MKCG Medical College and Hospital."
The photos of the bus shared by ANI were similar to that in the viral video.
Several mainstream media outlets also reported the same bus accident in February 2020.
According to The Times of India, the bus caught fire after coming in contact with an overhead power transmission line while the passengers were on their way to attend an engagement ceremony in a nearby village. Passengers trapped in the bud were rescued by the locals, police and fire service personnel. The injured were rushed to the MKCG Medical College and Hospital in Berhampur.
As per the NDTV, after the accident came to light, the Odisha government suspended four engineers of two departments, two from the energy department and another two from the rural development department and were charged dereliction of duty.
In conclusion, the viral video of charred bodies is falsely linked to the recent Birbhum violence in West Bengal. However, the viral video shows the aftermath of a bus accident that came in contact with an 11-kilo volt (KV) power transmission line near the Golanthara area of Ganjam district in Odisha. Also, the claim that 12 victims are Adivasis is false as the victims are Muslims.
If you have any news that you believe needs to be fact-checked, please email us at factcheck@thelogicalindian.com or WhatsApp at 6364000343.
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