Viral video of people rescuing man from open drain is from Tamil Nadu, not Mumbai

By: Annet Preethi Furtado
July 11 2023

Share Article:

Context

Incessant monsoon showers caused heavy flooding in the Indian city of Mumbai, which witnessed traffic snarls and even building collapses. Several social media users criticized Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation or BMC, the civic body responsible for the upkeep of the metropolitan city, for the situation. Amid this backdrop, a 45-second clip showing a bunch of people around an open sewage drain is circulating online. In the footage, some residents can be seen rescuing an unconscious man from one side of the flooding drain. Some people then perform CPR in an attempt to save the rescued man. While no dialogues are audible, some music plays in the background of the video. A Twitter user shared the video with the caption, "Borivali East.. This is what corrupt leadership in BMC does for you. U think GOD will forgive these leaders." The post also tagged Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to draw attention to the incident. 

However, the video is not from Mumbai. 

In Fact

On performing a reverse image search on one of the video's keyframes, we discovered that News18 had shared a clip of the same incident on Twitter in August 2022, mentioning that the incident occurred in Hosur, Tamil Nadu. This video is shorter and seems to be recorded from a different angle, but it captures the same visuals of people rushing to rescue a man trapped in a drain. In the video shared by News 18, a middle-aged man can be seen standing on a waterlogged road amid moving traffic. He gets into an altercation with a two-wheeler rider before attempting to cross the road. However, due to his unsteady gait, he loses his balance and tumbles into the roadside drain prompting others to rush to his aid, as also seen in the viral video. The audio in the video contains indistinct dialogues in Tamil.

Similar visuals from the viral clip were also part of a video report shared by the Kannada news channel Asianet Suvarna News on YouTube. The video was shared with a description in Kannada that read, "An old man who fell into the drain while drunk; Video viral! (translated)," and was uploaded on August 4, 2022. The video description also stated that the incident occurred in Hosur, Tamil Nadu.

Further, according to a video report by the regional news outlet Tamil Samayam, the man inadvertently fell into a sewer while trying to cross the road. According to the report, continuous downpour for nearly three hours caused the road in Hosur to flood. The report was also shared on August 4, 2022. After being rescued, the man, reportedly drunk, was taken to a government hospital for additional medical care, the report said. 

We closely analyzed the viral clip and noticed a shop's signboard near the drain carrying some Tamil text. The signboard also mentioned a 'gold loan' and some contact numbers. Logically Facts contacted the shop and inquired about its location. The staff said the shop Yogakshemam Gold Loan was located in Hosur and shared its Google Maps geolocation coordinates with us. This confirmed that the outlet is on State Highway (SH) 17 passing through Hosur.

After tracing the route along SH 17, we also located a spot with features resembling those in the scenes from the viral video, such as the signboard with a gold loan offer, another signboard bearing directions to a railway station, a yellow pole, and a bridge. By thoroughly comparing the video footage and the identified location on Google Maps, we concluded that the viral video was indeed captured in Tamil Nadu's Hosur.

The Verdict

A video from 2022 capturing a man falling into an open drain in Hosur, Tamil Nadu, has been shared with the inaccurate claim that it captures a recent incident from Borivali East in Mumbai, Maharashtra.