More than 6.6 lakh in 27 districts across Assam have been hit by the floods due to pre-monsoon rains in Assam. Nine people have died. While reporting on the flood situation in the state, Aaj Tak aired a video that shows an iron bridge collapsing due to the strong current of the water. (Archive link)

India TV also played the same video while reporting on the floods in Assam. The video appears after 29 seconds into the broadcast. (Archive link)

Apart from this, News18 Bangla, Bharat Samachar, Oriya news channel OTV News, short video platform Editorji aired the video while reporting on the Assam floods. However, Editorji added a disclaimer stating “authenticity unverified”.

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The video has gone viral on Facebook and Twitter with the same claim.

Fact-check

According to a tweet by Guwahati Plus, this video is old and not from Assam.

Netherlands ambassador to Indonesia, Labert Grange, had tweeted this video on April 6, 2021. He wrote that it depicted the floods in Eastern Flores in Indonesia.

Australia’s ABC News reported, “Floods and landslides also hit several nearby islands in the Indonesian archipelago, including Flores, leaving at least 55 people dead.”

Through the help of Google Street View, Alt News found that this is the Old Kambaniru Bridge. It was located in Sumba Regency, which is in Indonesia. We found old imagery of the bridge on Google Street View.

Ultimately, a one-year-old video of a bridge collapsing in the Indonesian floods was shared as the recent floods in Assam. It is noteworthy that a bamboo bridge collapsed in the Udalguri district in Assam. But several major media outlets, including Aaj Tak, shared an old video from Indonesia to report the flood situation in Assam.

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About the Author

Kinjal Parmar holds a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology. However, her keen interest in journalism, drove her to pursue journalism from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication. At Alt News since 2019, she focuses on authentication of information which includes visual verification, media misreports, examining mis/disinformation across social media. She is the lead video producer at Alt News and manages social media accounts for the organization.