As Lakshadweep basked in newfound attention, making its way to the bucket list of many, including celebrities, a video of a dramatic collision of two boats began making the rounds on social media. People rowing the boat could be seen toppling down one after another into the water following the collision. Those sharing the clip claimed that this incident unfolded in Lakshadweep.
India Today Fact Check found that this video is from Kerala, where two boats collided with each other during a race.
OUR PROBE
Upon reverse searching keyframes from the viral video, we found that the same video was shared on YouTube on December 4, 2023. Its title in Malayalam stated that this accident took place during a boat race held at Pandanad, a village in the Alappuzha district of Kerala. We then found several videos of this incident shot from different angles on YouTube.
In one of these better-quality videos, we found words on the boat written in Malayalam. Using Google Lens, we found out that it read “Pallathuruthy Boat”.
A quick search revealed that Pallathuruthy Boat Club or PBC is based in Alappuzha. The club shared a video of this accident on its Instagram page back in December 2023.
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We also found several media reports about the video in question. According to a report by Manorama dated December 3, 2023, this video is from the Pandanad Champions Boat League. Following their victory in the boat race, PBC club members started rowing their boat back to the pavilion and got hit by another boat in the way. One rover, a native of Thrissur, was hurt in the accident and was admitted to a hospital.
It is thus, clear that a boat accident from Kerala was falsely linked to Lakshadweep.
Published By:
Sahil Sinha
Published On:
Jan 11, 2024
English (US) ·