Lighthouse Journalism came across a widely shared video on social media showing a schoolgirl crossing a river on a zipline with minimal support.
The video was claimed to be from India. However, our investigation revealed that the footage is actually from Colombia, not India. The viral claim is misleading.
Claim:
X user Aafrin shared the viral video on their social media platform with a misleading claim.
Other social media users are also sharing the same video with a similar claim.
Investigation:
We started the investigation by running a reverse image search on the keyframes obtained from the video.
We found that this video was also uploaded over two years ago.
We then ran a simple keyword search, which led us to a video uploaded on Facebook.
The caption stated: A young school girl in Colombia, armed with nothing but courage and a zipline, soars across a rushing river every single day.
We also found the screenshot from the viral video in an article, uploaded in 2022.
The article stated: Videos recorded by parents and teachers in the Puerto Mosquito neighborhood, in the rural area of Santa Marta, show the grave danger that schoolchildren face every day to get to school.
These children are forced to cross the Gaira River hanging from a rope to attend class. This is happening in the Puerto Mosquito neighborhood.
We also found the video posted on X in 2022. It said: #Magdalena Risking their lives, boys and girls from the Puerto Mosquito village in the city of #SantaMarta cross the Gaira River hanging from a pulley to attend classes. Indigenous leaders request the construction of a bridge before a tragedy occurs.
Another news report mentioned that the incident occurred in the Puerto Mosquito neighborhood, northeast of the city of Santa Marta, which is in Colombia.
Conclusion: An old video from Colombia, of a school girl crossing a river on a zipline, is being shared as recent from India. The viral claim is misleading.
