A video of rescue efforts in the aftermath of the February 2020 Uttarakhand flash floods is being shared with the false claim that it shows the Indian Army demolishing Chinese bunkers along the Line of Actual Control near Pangong Lake.
BOOM found that the video shows of search and rescue operations carried out by the Indo-Tibetan Border Patrol in Chamoli, Uttarakhand following flash floods in the state earlier this month.
Indian and Chinese forces had clashed in May 2020 leading to casualties on both sides. Despite successive high-level talks, the stand-off continued for nine months. On February 19, India and China completed disengagement process.
On February 19, state-backed Chinese media acknowledged the Chinese army incurred casualties in the Galwan valley clash. People's Daily tweeted that the Chinese Military Commission had recognised four PLA soldiers died in "last June's border conflict".
In the background of the disengagement process, a one-minute video is being shared to claim the Indian Army removed Chinese bunkers and other concrete structures from the banks of the Pangong Tso lake.
The archive of the post can be accessed here.
The archive of the post can be accessed here.
In the video, two earth movers can be seen removing debris while personnel wearing orange safety vests monitor the operation.
The caption reads: After 150 Chinese tanks and about 5,000 Chinese soldiers escape from Pangong Lake, Indian Army demolished all Chinese bunkers with a JCB. (Hindi caption: पांगोंग झील से १५० चीनी टैंक और लगभग ५,000 चीनी सैनिकों के भागने के पश्चात. भारतीय सेना ने जेसीबी से सभी चीनी बंकर ध्वस्त कर दिए!")
Fact Check
We broke down the video into key frames using InVID WeVerify tool and ran reverse image searches on the images.
We found this video from news agency ANI on rescue operation underway at Chamoli in Uttarakhand. The title of the video is: "Chamoli disaster: 56 bodies recovered, rescue operation underway".
The same video was also posted on the ITBP's Twitter account.
Below is the screenshot comparison between the viral video (L) and the ITBP video (R).
On February 7, 2021, a glacier burst in the Tapovan-Reni area of Chamoli District of Uttarakhand, causing extreme flooding in the Alaknanda and Dhauliganga rivers. As of February 19, 2021, 62 bodies and 28 body parts have been retrieved from the Tapovan tunnel.
