Old Image of Car Drowning in a Lake Falsely Linked to Baltimore Bridge Collapse
This image dates back to 2022 and is from Ireland.
Fact-check: An old and unrelated image from Ireland is being falsely linked to the bridge collapse in Baltimore.
(Photo: The Quint)
A photo showing a car almost submerged in a water body is going viral on social media where users are linking it to Francis Scott Key Bridge that collapsed in United States' Baltimore.
Some context: The bridge in Baltimore Harbor collapsed on 26 March after a large cargo ship rammed into the structure.
Several vehicles on the bridge at the time plunged into the River Patapsco.
An archive can be seen here.
How did we find out the truth?: We performed a reverse image search on the viral image and this led us to an article shared by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) on 1 January 2022.
The article states that a car entered the River Roe near Dungiven, a town in Northern Ireland.
It added that according to the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service (NIFRS) , they used ropes to help the driver and get the car out on the river.
The image was credited to NIFRS and we found a Facebook post on their official page.
NIFRS shared several image related to the incident on 1 January 2022.
Conclusion: Clearly, an old and unrelated image from Ireland is being falsely linked to the bridge collapse in Baltimore.
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