2018 video of a young man who climbed on a high-voltage tower to commit suicide in Columbia shared now with a communal narrative - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
June 13, 2023
A video is being shared on social media claiming it is the visuals of a Muslim man offering namaz prayers on an electricity transmission tower. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video of a Muslim man offering Namaz prayers on an electricity transmission tower.
Fact: The video shows an old incident that took place in Barranquilla City in Columbia. In May 2018, a 20-year-old young man lost his life after he was electrocuted while climbing down a high-voltage tower in Barranquilla. The young man climbed the tower intending to commit suicide, and when he changed his mind and tried to climb down, he accidentally got in contact with a live wire and suffered electrocution. The video does not show a Muslim man reciting Namaz on an electricity tower. Hence, the claim made in the post is False.
On reverse image search of the screenshots of the video, a video with similar visuals was found published by the Metatube website on 17 May 2018. Sharing the video, the news site reported that a young man lost his life after he was electrocuted while trying to get off a high-voltage tower in Barranquilla, Columbia.
Reporting the complete details of the incident, several other news websites published articles in 2018. They can be seen here, here, and here. As per the reports, on 13 May 2018, Victor Jose Arroyo Gonzalez, a 20-year-old young man, who was deaf and dumb, climbed a high-voltage tower in Barranquilla City and threatened to throw himself off. The young man climbed the tower to commit suicide, but he changed his mind after listening to the police and onlookers. While climbing down the tower, the victim accidentally got in contact with a live wire and suffered electrocution.
To sum it up, a 2018 video of a young man who climbed on a high voltage tower to commit suicide in Columbia is shared as the visuals of a Muslim man performing namaz on an electric tower.