Authors
Pankaj Menon is a fact-checker based out of Delhi who enjoys ‘digital sleuthing’ and calling out misinformation. He has completed his MA in International Relations from Madras University and has worked with organisations like NDTV, Times Now and Deccan Chronicle online in the past.
Claim
Half mountain on Chamo highway in Tibet collapsed
Newschecker also received the same claim on our WhatsApp tipline (+91 9999499044) to be fact checked.
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Fact
We first checked if there were any recent reports of landslides in highway in Tibet, or in Chamo, and found no such reports.
Close analyses showed that the viral video had several videos edited together in a sequence. Newchecker split the video into several keyframes and conducted reverse image search on each keyframe.
The reverse image search using Yandex on the keyframes from the first video, showing part of a mountain crack and collapse, took us to a Facebook post on September 7, 2022 by popular social media page UNILAD, carrying the same video. The caption read, “Mountain cracks and landslides onto road below,” and the location key indicated that it is from Pithoragarh in India’s Uttarakhand.
Similar search of the second video took us to a report on Mexican news website La Razon, which revealed that the incident took place in the Policarpa sector of the Ejido in Nariño, Colombia, after over thirty hours of continuous rain. The report was published in December 2021, proving that the incident is old and not recent.
Another reverse image search of the keyframes of the third video in the sequence took us to a report filed by Times Now, on 14 July, 2023, that revealed that the incident took place in Nagaland, India, on National Highway 29.
The fourth video showing a highway wash off in the rain was traced to India’s Jammu and Kashmir, as revealed by this report on Times Now dated July 8, 2023. The road lies between T3 and T5, and bypasses the Panthyal tunnel of the NH44 and caved in after incessant rains, the report revealed,
The next video, showing a landslide sweep over a village, was found to be from 2022. The video report, published on a Vietnamese website called vietnamnet.vn in August 2022, indicated that the video was from the Himalaya. But not much else was available with regard to the viral video. But it can be confirmed that it is old and not recent.
The next video was found to be from Himachal Pradesh’s Sirmaur, and took place in July 2021, according to this report published in India Today.
The final video in the compilation sequence, showing a cliff collapse over tourists over a waterbody, was found to be from Brazil, where at least 1 person was killed when a boulder collapsed on a tourist boat, in January 2022.
Result: False
Sources
Video posted on Facebook page of UNILAD, on September 7, 2023
Report published in La Razon, dated December 31, 2021
Report published in Times Now, dated 14 July, 2023
Report published in Times Now, dated July 8, 2023
Report published in vietnamnet.vn, dated August 13, 2022
Report published in India Today, dated July 30, 2021
Report published in USA Today, dated January 9, 2022
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Authors
Pankaj Menon is a fact-checker based out of Delhi who enjoys ‘digital sleuthing’ and calling out misinformation. He has completed his MA in International Relations from Madras University and has worked with organisations like NDTV, Times Now and Deccan Chronicle online in the past.
