A video of a large amount of snow sliding down a mountain is being circulated on social media, claiming it caused the glacier in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli to burst on Sunday.
A section of the Nanda Devi Glacier collapsed on the morning of February 7, causing a deluge and floods that washed away hydroelectric stations and homes, killing at least 15 people and missing more than 100 until the last reports. Two NTPC hydropower projects, Tapovan-Vishnugad and Rishi Ganga, were largely damaged and numerous workers were trapped in tunnels when the waters flooded.
The 30-second video is shared with a Hindi caption that translates to: ‘Video of glacier breaking down in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli’. Spectators can be heard honking in the clip with excitement.
India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) found the allegation along with the video misleading. This video is from an avalanche at Kapuche Glacier Lake in Nepal in January 2021. No lives were lost in the incident.
Some netizens also claim that this is the first video that was burst from the Uttarakhand glacier. The archived versions of similar posts can be seen here, here and here.
AFWA investigation
With the help of the InVID tool, we found that the video is from last month and that it shows an avalanche in Nepal. It was uploaded on January 9, 2021 by an Instagram user naren32 with the caption, Deadliest avalanche.
On January 11, the user uploaded a longer version of the same video on his Instagram handle and YouTube channel, saying it was an avalanche at Lake Kapuche in Nepal.
The description of the YouTube video says: “Enormous avalanche () at Kapuche Lake Sikles. The Kapuche Glacier Lake is located at an altitude of 2546 meters from sea level. It is located within the small town of Sikles of the Kaski district in the Annapurna region. This lake has been declared the lowest glacial lake in the world. We had to spend the night at the lake to be able to capture this moment and finally it paid off that we filmed ourselves, and suddenly an avalanche started, rest is history.
Following this, we did a keyword search on the internet and found reports confirming that the video came from Kapuche Glacier Lake at Parche in Kaski district in Nepal.
According to reports, a tourist named Shambhu Adhikari came across this view while he was playing a guitar himself.
We also found a report on the avalanche by The Weather Channel published on January 26, 2021. The report also says there were no casualties in the incident. Furthermore, the Kathmandu correspondent from India Today confirmed to us that the video is from Nepal.
Therefore, it is clear that the video in question is about a month old and of an avalanche at Kapuche Glacier Lake in Nepal.
With input from Sourabh Bhatnagar in New Delhi
ClaimThis is the video of the glacier breaking down in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli. ClosureThis video is from an avalanche at Kapuche Glacier Lake in Nepal in January 2021. There were no casualties in the incident. Meanwhile, at least 15 people were reported dead by the morning of February 8 and many are still missing after the glacier burst in the Chamoli district on Sunday.
JHOOTH BOLE KAUVA KAATE
The number of crows determines the intensity of the lie.
- 1 Crow: Half true
- 2 crows: mostly lies
- 3 crows: absolutely false
