Video Showing People Stuck Under Snow in Sikkim Viral as One From Amarnath Yatra

This video shows a massive avalanche that struck Sikkim's Nathula border area in April.

Fact-check: These video are from avalanche that hit Sikkim in April 2023 and are not from Amarnath Yatra.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

A set of two videos showing an avalanche is going viral on social media. Another video shows several people being rescued from under a heavy blanket of snow.

The claim: The claim states that the video shows people trapped under snow in Amarnath, Jammu & Kashmir, following an avalanche.

An archive can be seen here.

(Archives can be seen here, here, here and here. We also received a query about this video on our WhatsApp Tipline.)

Where is the video from?: The video is from Sikkim when a massive avalanche hit the Nathula border area on 4 April.

How did we find out the truth?: We performed a reverse image search on some of the keyframes of the video and came across reports from April.

• A video report by EastMojo uploaded on YouTube on 4 April carried the same video as the first video from the set of viral visuals.

• The description of the video stated that an avalanche hit the Jawaharlal Nehru road, connecting Gangtok with Nathula Pass at about 12:15 PM on 4 April and trapped several people in the snow.

• It also mentioned that the same area experienced another slide at 5:35 PM on the same day.

• The same video was carried by News18 Rajasthan, Aaj Tak and The Voice of Sikkim.

• A screenshot from the same video was also carried by Hindustan Times.

• The article mentioned that at least seven people died while more than 50 people were trapped under snow.

The report was published on 4 April 2023. 

• Another similar picture was uploaded by news agency Reuters about avalanche that hit Sikkim.

This avalanche happened in Sikkim.

• We found the second video on YouTube uploaded by a user 'Poth Chola' on 6 April.

• The video's title read, "Deadly Avalanche Hits Nathu La in Sikkim".

Confirmation from a local reporter: We contacted a local reporter from Sikkim, Sherab Palden Bhutia, from The Sikkim Chronicle.

• He confirmed that both videos are from Sikkim and not the Amarnath Yatra.

Conclusion: Clearly, these video are from an avalanche that hit Sikkim in April 2023 and are not from Amarnath Yatra as claimed.

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