Viral images of an overturned bus, surrounded by Border Security Force (BSF) personnel, are doing the rounds on social media with a claim that the bus ferrying BSF officers met with an accident in Bihar and nine personnel lost their lives.
We, at The Quint, found that while a bus with BSF personnel did overturn near the Muzzaffarpur-Darbhanga border in Bihar on 4 November, none of the personnel had lost their lives in the accident.
CLAIM
The claim with which the aforementioned images are being circulated reads: “दु:खद घटना बिहार के दरभंगा में बीएसएफ के जवानों से भरी बस पलटने से जवान शहीद, शहीद हुए जवानों को भावपूर्ण श्रद्धांजलि |”
[Translation: In a tragic incident, a bus carrying BSF Jawans in Bihar overturned resulting in the death of the soldiers. A tribute to all the martyrs.]
WHAT WE FOUND
We observed the viral posts carefully and found the same digits on the number plate of the bus in both the images. Hence, both images were from the same spot but clicked from different angles.
Next, we ran a reverse image search on the photographs and found news reports dated 5 November by Hindi news dailies Dainik Bhaskar and Punjab Kesari, carrying one of the viral images.
According to these reports, a bus overturned in Muzzafarpur in Bihar injuring 10 people, including nine BSF personnel. However, none of the reports mentioned about any deaths, as claimed by several on social media. They added that the injured were taken to the Singhwara Community Health Centre (CHC).
Next, we reached out to the medical officer at Singhwara, Dr Prem Singh, who told us that 10 people injured in the accident were brought to the hospital, and there were no deaths.
Clearly, a misleading claim about the death of BSF personnel on election duty in Bihar was circulated on the internet.
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