National media shares video of rescue operation from 2021 as from Telangana
Godavari still remains above danger level at Bhadrachalam and several surrounding villages are still facing flood situation.
Godavari still remains above danger level at Bhadrachalam and several surrounding villages are still facing flood situation. Meanwhile, A video of a rescue operation of people stuck in flood waters, being carried out using Indian Air Force helicopter is going viral as an operation that took place in Telangana during the recent floods of Godavari River.
Several national mainstream media outlets have also shared this video with the claim that it took place recently, during the floods of July 2022 and two people stuck in Godavari River were rescued in this operation.
Fact check:
The claim is FALSE.
When the extracted keyframes from the video are used to perform Google reverse image search, we found news videos from 2021. The video is NOT recent and is from November 2021. This incident took place in Ananthapur district of Andhra Pradesh and is NOT from Telangana.
Here is ABP report published on November 19, 2021.
and also found a NDTV report, titled 'Chopper, Ziplines And JCB In Dramatic Rescue After Andhra Rain' published in November 2021.
NDTV report states that "A dramatic video of the winching operation shows men clinging to a JCB earthmover as the violent waters of a river swirl dangerously around after incessant downpour."
Taking cue from these reports, we searched using keywords "Helicopter rescue in Ananthapur", where we found several local and national videos of the same incident that were published in 2021.
According to 'The Hindu' and other reports, An Indian Air Force helicopter from Yelahanka in Bengaluru rescued 10 persons stranded in the middle of Chitravathi river, at Veldurthy village in Chennekothapalli mandal of Anantapur district.
The helicopter reached the spot at 1.40 p.m. and took about an hour to rescue all the 10 persons stranded on the earthmover, which was shaking due to the ever-increasing force of the floodwater. While seven crew members of the IAF toiled hard to rescue the 10 persons, families of those stranded spent an anxious day on the shore and lustily cheered every time one person was lifted up into the chopper from the vehicle.
The images of this rescue operation were also shared by the twitter handle of IAF with caption "Today,
@IAF_MCC Mi-17 heptr evacuated ten people stuck in the rising waters of Chitravati river in Ananthapur district, Andhra Pradesh, in difficult weather conditions. "
Hence, an old video from Ananthapur, Andhra Pradesh is being passed of as recent rescue operation that took place in Telangana.