Media misreports link 2021 IAF rescue operation in Andhra to recent Telangana floods - Alt News
Abhishek Kumar
19th July 2022 / 7:17 pm
On July 13 media reports stated that the rise in water level of the Godavari river triggered widespread floods in Telangana. The low-lying areas are facing the brunt of the natural calamity. The devestation of this can be seen when two farmers trapped on top of a water tank were safely rescued by the Indian Air Force (IAF).
In the backdrop of this, multiple media channels have aired a clip of people being rescued by an Indian Air Force (IAF) chopper. As per their reportage, it shows scenes of a rescue operation at the Godavari river where people are stranded on a crane surrounded by a rapid stream of water.
India Today aired the visuals as people being evacuated from floodwater in Telangana.
[vimeo 730552998 w=640 h=360]
Times Now Navbharat and Times Now also broadcasted the footage with the same claim.
[vimeo 730550072 w=640 h=360]
Zee Bihar Jharkhand also aired the same video
[vimeo 730550024 w=640 h=480]
Mirror Now, another English laguage national channel, followed suit.
[vimeo 730550138 w=640 h=360]
Even TV9 Kannada also promoted the visuals with the same reportage.
[vimeo 730550731 w=640 h=360]
News18, news agency IANS, Telangana Today, Telugu Stop, Mirror Now, Times Now, VV Balakrishnan of The New Indian Express tweeted the video as rescue operations in Telangana. Several other media outlets, including Public TV, ETV Telangana, Siasat, and India.com made the same claim.
We noticed many users replied to The New Indian Express journalist VV Balakrishna’s tweet clarifying that this was an old video from Andhra Pradesh.
Using this clue, we performed a keyword search which led us to news reports by NDTV and Hindustan Times from November 2021. These reports covered IAF’s rescue of 10 people trapped in the Chitravathi River in Andhra Pradesh’s Anantapur district.
We also found this footage in a news bulletin aired by NDTV in 2021.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9rYP0U4h2I]
A YouTube channel named ‘Extreme Videos‘ also posted the video in 2021 which is at present being passed off as visuals from recent rescue operations.
In fact, in November 2021, the Indian Air Force tweeted photos with details about the rescue operations.
#HADROps#AndhraFlood
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. pic.twitter.com/CEsG9EOekC
— Indian Air Force (@IAF_MCC) November 19, 2021
To sum it up, multiple news channels misreported the 2022 Telangana floods by airing footage of the 2021 rescue operation in Andhra Pradesh by the IAF as the latest visuals.
Abhishek is a senior fact-checking journalist and researcher at Alt News. He has a keen interest in information verification and technology. He is always eager to learn new skills, explore new OSINT tools and techniques. Prior to joining Alt News, he worked in the field of content development and analysis with a major focus on Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
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