Have 4 MARCO Commandos of the Indian Navy been killed in a Jhelum Boat Capsized Tragedy?
A claim is going viral on the social media site X(Twitter) stating that four Marcos commandos of the Indian Navy were killed when their boat capsized in the Jhelum River in Jammu and Kashmir during a training exercise. The claim has been shared by several Pak-based handles on X(Twitter).
A Pak-based handle namely Defence Pakistan shared an image showing some Marco Commandos on a boat and wrote: #BREAKING At around 8:00 AM today, 04 MARCOS commandos of the #Indian Navy were killed when their boat capsized in Jehlum river in Indian occupied #Jammu and #Kashmir during a Training Exercise.
Following Defence Pakistan, numerous Pak-based handles including @SarginAffairs, @CyberSecNews663 & @NavCom24 shared the same image and made a similar claim.
Fact-Check
The DFRAC team performed a keyword search in the context of the above viral claim and found some media reports during this process.
Media reports from Livemint and India Today
According to a media report published by India Today on April 16, at least six people were killed after a boat carrying 15 passengers, including seven children, overturned in Srinagar’s River Jhelum on Tuesday. DC Srinagar, Bilal Mohi Ud Din Bhat confirmed that six people had died, three were admitted to a hospital and three others were rescued.
Further, the report mentioned: “‘Rescue operations are still underway here by NDRF, SDRF and Army teams to rescue the remaining three people, he was quoted as saying”.
Another report by Livemint from April 16 also stated similar facts regarding the Jhelum boat tragedy.
Latest developments from Deccan Herald and Times of India
As per media reports by Deccan Herald and Times of India, rescuers searched Jhelum waters on April 17 for three who went missing after a boat capsized in river the day before, claiming 6 lives. Teams of State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) & Jammu & Kashmir Police are engaged in the operation and Indian Navy’s marine commandos (MARCOS) have also been pressed into service, officials said.
About the shared image with the viral claim
To investigate the authenticity of the viral image, the DFRAC conducted a reverse-image search on Google and found that the image is from May 2023 and related to the G-20 meeting. Reports from The Hindu and NDTV dated May 18, 2023, & May 19, 2023, featuring a similar image, stated that Srinagar was under an unprecedented security blanket. Marine commandos and National Security Guards (NSG) had been deployed in the region as part of the ground-to-air security cover ahead of the G20 Working Group meeting.
Thus, it can be concluded that the image shared with the viral claim is not a recent one.
Conclusion
It is evident form DFRAC’s fact-check that the viral claim stating four Marcos commandos of the Indian Navy were killed in the Jhelum River tragedy along with the shared image is misleading since teams of SDRF, NDRF and Jammu and Kashmir Police along with MARCO commandos have been found deployed in the rescue operation to retrieve the bodies of missing in the Jhelum boat capsized tragedy.
