A video of oxygen tankers being carried on a train has been shared on social media with the false claim that it shows oxygen being shipped from Saudi Arabia to India.
This comes amid a shortage of oxygen and beds in hospitals across the country, as we deal with the surge in COVID cases.
While, it is true that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Health has helped the Indian Embassy there to supply 80MT of liquid medical oxygen, the video being shared is of the Oxygen Express traveling between Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh.
CLAIM
The video was shared with the text, “Saudi Arabia Is Sending To India 80 Million Tonnes Of Liquid Oxygen”.
Facebook user Sammy Shabaz shared the video garnering over 8,300 shares and 2,100 likes at the time of writing this article.
Another user Riyas Udheen shared the video with the caption, “Praise be to allah. The wind of blessings has come frome saudi arabia (sic),” garnering over 2,600 shares.
The video was shared by several users on Facebook and Twitter. Archived versions of the claims can be viewed here, here, here, and here.
WHAT WE FOUND
A reverse image search of one of the keywords of the viral video led us to a PTI report on The News Minute’s website.
According to the report, the visuals show the first Oxygen Express carrying seven empty tankers from Maharashtra’s Kalamboli to Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, from where the liquid medical oxygen will be loaded.
A longer version of the viral video was tweeted by the official Twitter handle of Central Railways on 19 April. The caption states, “Railways is running its first Oxygen Express in its fight against COVID-19. The Ro-Ro [Roll On Roll Off] service with 7 empty tankers departed from Kalamboli, Maharashtra for Vishakapatnam today, where it will be loaded with Liquid Medical Oxygen. (sic)”
The tankers in the video are carrying brand logos of industrial and medical gases manufacturer Inox Air Products and multinational chemical company Linde.
The engine in the longer video shows that the train belongs to ‘Indian Railways.’
Stills from the viral video match those of the video tweeted by Central Railways. Comparisons of the two can be seen below.
The video was also tweeted by Railways Minister Piyush Goyal and similar visuals can be seen in reports by NDTV, Financial Express, and Firstpost.
IS SAUDI ARABIA SUPPLYING OXYGEN TO INDIA?
News agency PTI reported on 25 April that Saudi Arabia will ship 80 metric tonnes of liquid oxygen to India.
The Indian Embassy in Riyadh tweeted on 24 April that it had partnered with the Adani Group and Linde to ship oxygen to India and thanked the Ministry of Health of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for its cooperation.
Visuals tweeted by the Embassy show the tankers being boarded on to the ship.
It must be noted that the viral video being circulated as a shipment from Saudi Arabia pre-dates the visuals shared by the Embassy.
Gautam Adani, Chairman of Adani Group had also tweeted his thanks to the Indian Embassy in Riyadh.
“This first shipment of 4 ISO cryogenic tanks with 80 tons of liquid oxygen is now on its way from Dammam to Mundra,” the tweet further said, along with the image below.
Evidently, a video of the Indian Railways’ Oxygen Express is being shared with the false claim that it shows oxygen being transported from Saudi Arabia to India.
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