2018 video of Varanasi flyover collapse is falsely shared as Balanagar-Jeedimetla flyover collapse
Update (17 February 2023): A video is being shared on social media (here, here) claiming that the video shows a flyover collapse in Thane on 16 February 2023. However, as explained below, the video actually shows the collapse of an under-construction flyover in Varanasi back in 2018
A post accompanying a video that appears to be like a bridge collapse on is being shared with a claim that the video shows Balanagar-Jeedimetla flyover collapse in Hyderabad. Through this article let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video of Balanagar- Jeedimetla flyover collapse.
Fact: The video actually shows the collapse of an under-construction flyover in Varanasi back in 2018. Multiple news agencies have reported the incident back then. Telangana police have also clarified that this video has nothing to do with Hyderabad. Also, there are no news articles reporting Balanagar-Jeedimetla flyover collapse. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
Reverse image search of the screenshots of the video led us to a 2018 news report which reported the same incident. However, as per this report, the video shows collapse of a part of a flyover that was under construction in Varanasi in 2018. This establishes that this is an old video and has nothing to do with Hyderabad.
Google search with relevant keywords yielded us multiple 2018 news articles which reported the incident. One such report by Indian Express which published images similar to the screenshots in the viral video can be read here. ANI also shared images of the accident on twitter. All these ascertain that the video shows the collapse of a flyover in Varanasi back in 2018.
Further search also led us to a tweet by Telangana state police dated 24 February 2021, in response to a query by a Twitter user regarding the veracity of the video. Telangana Police had categorically stated that the video is related to an incident that happened in Varanasi a couple of years ago.
In fact, if an incident of such nature takes place, media would have covered it. But we could not find any recent new articles or reports related to Balanagar-Jeedimetla flyover collapse. All these establish the fact that the video has nothing to do with Hyderabad.
To sum it up, an old video of Varanasi flyover collapse is being falsely shared as of Balanagar-Jeedimetla flyover collapse.