Video of child’s dead body transported in ice box viral with false kidnapping rumours worldwide

A video of a woman removing ice over the body of a dead child confined in a box is being circulated on social media with the claim that this child was kept in an icebox to be transported for organ harvest. On October 30, Twitter user Sir Henry posted the video with an identical claim.

WARNING! GRAPHIC CONTENT

Children kidnapped, frozen in ice and put in coffins ready to be transported to various secret places for their organs to be harvested and sold. This is current world where everyone wants to be rich through every means. Watch out in your area. 💔😭 pic.twitter.com/jAq9xSV9rb

— Sir H͓͓͓̽̽̽E͓͓̽̽N͓̽RY™ (@SirHenryKau) October 30, 2019

People on Facebook and Twitter across the world shared the video with the same narrative.

Fact-check

Alt News broke the video into multiple key-frames using the online digital verification tool InVid. A Google reverse image of one of the frames revealed that the video is from China’s Guandong province. According to a report published by Channel News Asia, the child had died after drowning at a relative’s house in Guandong province. He was packed in a box of ice to prevent the dead body from rotting in the summer heat. It was also reported by Chinese news channel CCTV.

Viral video of ‘kidnapped child in ice box’ shows drowned boy: Reports https://t.co/2OFfqkZ5us pic.twitter.com/aCLcMASSmi

— CNA (@ChannelNewsAsia) July 18, 2017

Earlier in October 2019 when the same clip was viral with the claim –“Around 300 hundred kids found frozen alive for the purposes of selling organs for transplantation”, it was debunked by American fact-checking website Snopes.

We also found a Weibo message posted by Public Security Bureau of Huaihua city, Hunan Province – “The child in the video is in the village of Mingyueshan, Xiushan Town, Taojiang County, Yiyang City, Hunan Province. He died in the waters of relatives in Guangzhou. Due to the heat in summer, the family put the body into a foam box with ice cubes and took it home to bury it! (Google translation)”

In conclusion, a video of a child’s corpse transported in an icebox was shared on social media with the false claim that he was being trafficked for organ trading.