By: Umme Kulsum
July 25 2023
Video of a bridge collapsing in India shared as footage from Venezuela
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Fact-Check
The Verdict False
The video is from Mandi district in Himachal Pradesh, India. It was taken when heavy rains struck the hill state earlier in July.
Claim ID 6cc26a6d
Context
A video of a bridge being washed away by an overflowing river has been shared on social media with a claim that it shows a flood scene in Caracas, Venezuela. The video emerged online just days after heavy rains caused flood-like situations in various parts of the country, including the capital. A Twitter user shared the video with a caption, which roughly translated from Spanish, read: "In Caracas Nojoda at #Lluvias in the afternoon today they did everything especially look at our Guaire River at the height of Macarao and Antímano made a disaster. And I couldn't go to Cines Unidos. #AEstaHora I almost slept." The post had gathered over 20,000 views at the time of publishing. An archive version of the post can be found here.
However, the video is from Himachal Pradesh, India.
In Fact
Logically Facts performed a reverse image search on some of the keyframes from the viral video and then came across a video report by The Indian Express. The video report, uploaded on YouTube on July 09, featured the same clip of a bridge collapsing in a hilly area. The video description read: "A bridge connecting Aut-Banjar washed away as Beas river flows ferociously in Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh due to continuous rain in the state."
The same clip was also shared by The Economic Times on July 9 on its YouTube channel as part of a video report titled, "Mandi bridge swept away by powerful Beas river flow in Himachal Pradesh, watch!"
Early in July, heavy rains wreaked havoc over north India, causing a number of bridges in Himachal Pradesh to collapse. People shared multiple visuals of bridges, houses, roads and vehicles, among other things, being washed away in rivers running through the hill state.
Spanish news outlet El Nacional had reported that Greater Caracas and many other states in Venezuela witnessed heavy rainfall towards the end of June. Apart from flooding, the rains led to power outages and travel disruptions, the outlet reported.
The video in question, however, has nothing to do with Venezuela.
The Verdict
A video from recent floods in India's Himachal Pradesh was shared to wrongly claim that it shows a bridge collapsing in Venezuela's Caracas. Therefore, we mark this claim as false.