Old Photo From Bangladesh Shared as Recent Assam Boat Accident
The photograph is from a ferry accident that took place in Bangladesh in June 2020.
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A photograph showing people standing near a waterbody with several bodies wrapped in white cloth around them, has been shared by social media users with a claim that it shows the aftermath of the boat accident in Assam that took place on Wednesday, 8 September.
However, we found that the image, which dates back to June 2020, is from a ferry accident that took place in Bangladesh.
Claim
A Facebook user who shared the photograph said, "মানুহতকৈ গৰুৰ মুল্য যত বেচি সেইখনেই আমাৰ অসম ৷৷"
(Translation using Google translate: Where the value of cows is more than humans, that is our Assam.)
A similar caption was used by another Facebook user who shared the photograph, both of which when combined together garnered over 100 shares.
What We Found Out
The photo was flagged on Twitter by journalist Rokibuz Zaman who stated that it's an old photo from Bangladesh.
We conducted a reverse image search on the image and found that it was used in an NDTV report published on 29 June 2020. Upon looking further, we found that the photograph was also present in a Reuters news report.
According to the reports, at least 23 people had died while several others went missing when a passenger boat, carrying 50 people, capsized following a collision in the Buriganga river in Bangladesh.
The caption of the image read, "Dead bodies are seen piled up on a boat after a passenger ferry capsized in the river Buriganga in Dhaka, Bangladesh, 29 June 2020."
The photograph was credited to Mohammad Ponir Hossain.
Meanwhile, in the recent boat accident in Assam, two passenger boats with around 120 people on-board collided at Nimati Ghat in Assam's Jorhat, following which one boat capsized. So far, one person – a 23-year-old woman has been reported dead and 87 people have been rescued.
Evidently, an old photograph from Bangladesh was shared by social media users falsely linking it to the recent boat accident in Assam.
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