Photos from 2015 showing stray dogs and crows gather around dead bodies that were floating in the river Ganga, are being passed off with a false claim that it shows Bihar's Buxar district where around 71 unidentified bodies were fished out recently.
The viral image is being shared in the backdrop of several decomposed and bloated bodies being found floating in the Ganga recently in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, with fears that bodies of COVID-19 victims were being dumped into the river.
The Buxar administration stated that so far fished out 71 bodies from the Ganga and a postmortem of all bodies was conducted, and DNA and COVID-19 samples were also taken, the Indian Express reported.
However, viral images of scavenger dogs and crows circling bodies in the river are from 2015.
The photo was shared by Aam Aadmi Party Rajya Sabha member Sushil Kumar Gupta on Facebook with the caption which when translated reads, "Nearly 500 bodies have been seen floating in the Ganges river in Buxar and Birpur areas of Bihar, many bodies were wrapped in Corona kits. These bodies, which have accumulated in an area of close to 30 km, are a living example of the insensitivity of both the UP and Bihar governments and there is a huge blemish on the system."
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(In Hindi - बिहार के बक्सर और बीरपुर एरिया में गंगा नदी में 500 के करीबन शव तैरते हुए देखे गए हैं, कई बॉडी तो कोरोना किट में बंद हैं। 30 किलोमीटर के करीबन एरिया में जमा हुए ये शव #UP और #Bihar दोनों सरकारों की संवेदनहीनता का जीता जागता उदाहरण है और सिस्टम पर बहुत बड़ा धब्बा है।)
Another photo of vultures and crows flying around dead bodies is also being shared with the viral image.
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Viral on Facebook
On searching with the same caption Facebook, we found that the photo is being shared with the false claim.
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FACT-CHECK
BOOM found that the viral photo is from January 2015, when more than 100 decaying dead bodies surfaced in the river Ganga near Pariyar between Kanpur and Unnao in Uttar Pradesh.
We noticed that the viral photo had the stock photo website Getty Images watermark, and on searching for the photo on the website, we found that it was taken on January 13, 2015.
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The second photo of vultures and crows flying around near the river is also from the same incident. We found this photo on Getty Images stating that it was taken on January 14, 2015, in Unnao, Uttar Pradesh at the Pariyar ghat.
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The local administration had then indicted that these were reportedly bodies that were immersed in the river in the hope of salvation and both Kanpur and Unnao administrations had ordered an investigation into the matter and are making arrangements for the last rites reported NDTV on January 14, 2015.
One can view a video report on the incident by NDTV below
