An unrelated video showing disturbing visuals of two women being swept away by strong tidal waves is viral with false claims that the incident happened in Mumbai's Bandra beach.
BOOM reached out to Rajesh Devre, police inspector, Bandra Police, who confirmed that no such incident of drowning was reported from the Bandra Beach.
The India Meteorological Department has issued a nowcast warning of heavy rainfall in several parts of Maharashtra including Mumbai, Pune, Satara, Solapur, Sangli and Kolhapur districts. Schools and colleges in Palghar district will be shut on July 14 on account of heavy rains.
The video shows visuals of two women being pulled into the water, as others cry for help and a man rushes to rescue them, but in vain.
Facebook pages including Haryana Bulletin news and Aadhar News Haryana reported the video as an incident that happened in Mumbai's Bandra beach.
The video has been captioned in Hindi as, "Playing with the sea waves at Mumbai's Bandra sea beach proved fatal for two women, as the hightide pulled them into the sea, claiming their lives."
(Original Text in Hindi: मुंबई में बांद्रा समुद्र तट पर लहरों के साथ खिलवाड़ पर करना पड़ा दो महिलाओं को भारी ऊंची लहरें बहा ले गई 2 महिलाओं को लहरों की ताकत को कम आंकना लील गया जिंदगी)
BOOM also received this video via its WhatsApp helpline for verification.
Fact Check
BOOM ran a reverse image search with keyframes of the video and found several news reports from Oman, stating that the video is from al-Mughsail beach in the Dhofar governorate in Oman where two people from a family of five were swept away by the strong tidal waves on July 10.
Abu Dhabi based news outlet, Erem News shared a tweet by the handle Weather Oman, carrying the same video. According to the tweet, the video documents the accident where members of an Asian family drowned after they crossed the safety barrier.
BOOM was not independently able to verify the video.
We reached out to the handle Weather Oman for more details. The article will be updated when we get a response.
Additionally, we did not find any news reports about two women drowning in the Bandra Beach. BOOM also reached out to Rajesh Devre, police inspector, Bandra Police, who confirmed that no such incident of drowning was reported from the beach premises.
Sangli family drowns in Oman
According to reports, three members of a family, including two children from Jat town in the Sangli district of Western Maharashtra, were swept away by strong tides in the sea in Oman during a family picnic on July 10, 2022. They were identified as Shashikant Mhamane, his nine-year-old daughter Shruti and six-year-old son Shreyas.
In a tweet on July 10, the Oman Police, "An Asian family of five people was swept away by the force of the waves, including three children, after they crossed the safety barrier on the rocky cliff in the Mughsail area in the Dhofar Governorate and fell into the sea; and the search and rescue teams are following up."
According to a report on Muscat Daily 14 people died by drowning due to heavy rainfall during the Eid al Adha holiday in different governorates of Oman .