Fact Check: Video showing shoals of fish ashore Vizag beach makes a MISLEADING claim
Cyclone Michaung made a landfall near Bapatla, between Nellore and Machilipatnam in Andhra Pradesh, leading to extremely heavy rain in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.
fish ashore Vizag beach
Cyclone Michaung made landfall near Bapatla, between Nellore and Machilipatnam in Andhra Pradesh, leading to extremely heavy rain in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. The cyclone wreaked havoc in Chennai and several parts of Tamil Nadu. Chennai is facing massive water-logging where the cyclone even caused few deaths.
As the cyclone hit several parts of Andhra Pradesh, a video showing shoals of fish floating near the shore is going viral with the claim that fish have come ashore in Vishakapatnam due to Cyclone Michaung.
The caption in Telugu goes “*తుఫాను కారణంగా విశాఖ బీచ్ లో ఒడ్డుకు కొట్టుకు వచ్చిన చేపలు.”
The claim is viral on all platforms of social media.
Fact check:
The claim is Misleading. The video is from May 2023 and not recent.
When we searched the key frames extracted from the viral video, we found that the video has been online on several YouTube channels of mainstream Telugu media since May 2023.
A viral video was published by Samayam Telugu on May 29, 2023, titled “Thousands of fish wash ashore on Bheemili beach I Vishakapatnam”. The description states that the residents and visitors at Bheemili Beach in the city were surprised to see thousands of live fish lying on the shore.
The same video was also published by NTV Telugu on their YouTube channel with the title Fishes Washed Ashore at Bheemili Beach | Ntv
The anchor can be heard stating that the fish were washed ashore a day before the video was published and that the locals as well as the tourists tried to catch these live fishes.
The same video was also published by V6 News Telugu with the title “Huge fishes washed ashore at Vizag Beach”.
The longer video was also published by Circare Express on May 29, 2023, with the title విశాఖపట్నం బీచ్ లో ఒడ్డుకు చేపలు || Fish washed ashore at Visakhapatnam beach @CircarExpress
Therefore, the viral video is not recent and shows the incident that took place in May 2023, when the fish were washed ashore live on the beach. This is not due to Cyclone Michaung. The claim is Misleading.