Old video of man carrying a dead child on a bike falsely shared linking to recent Tirupati temple stampede

This is an old video from April 2022 and unrelated to the recent Tirupati stampede

At least six people were killed in a stampede that broke out on 8 January 2025 evening in Andhra Pradesh’s Tirupati temple. The stampede broke out near Vaikuntha Dwara Darshan ticketing center as devotees rushed to get tokens. Hundreds of devotees had turned up from across the country for the 10-day Vaikunta Dwara Darshanam commencing from January 10.

Amid this, a video of a man carrying the dead body of a boy on a motorcycle, instead of in an ambulance, is going viral on social media with claims linking it to the recent Tirupati stampede. The video contained the text: “They asked 20,000 for an ambulance to transport a 12-year-old child who died in Tirupati Government Hospital. Childs father carries his son 90 KM due to lack of money!”

Let’s check the truth.

Archive link

The same video is viral on Facebook as well.

Fact Check- 

We started our investigation by conducting a keyword and reverse image search on Google and the results led us to a similar video uploaded on the ‘OneIndia News’ YouTube channel on 27 April 2024, titled: Tirupati man forced to carry son’s body on shoulders for 90 km to reach home. The video description stated that in Andhra Pradesh’s Tirupati town, a man named Narshimulu was forced to carry the dead body of his 10-year-old son on his shoulders while riding pillion on a motorcycle for 90 km to reach his home. He had to resort to this after ambulance drivers at a government hospital in Tirupati allegedly demanded ₹10,000 to transport the body.

Upon further search we found several media reports including the screenshot of the viral video published on 26 April 2022. According to these reports, the incident occurred at the Sri Venkateswara Ramnarayan (SVR) Ruia Government General Hospital in Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, in the early hours of 26 April 2022.

Archive link

According to India Today report, “A man from Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh was forced to carry his son’s dead body on a two-wheeler after the ambulance drivers at Sri Venkateswara Ramnarayan Ruia Government General (RUIA) hospital allegedly demanded a huge amount from him. The incident took place  at RUIA government Hospital of Tirupati where a 10-year-old boy from Chitwel Mandal village of Annamayya district died after treatment,” 

On January 9, after the Sri Venkateswara Swami Temple stampede, the Andhra Pradesh police issued a clarification regarding the viral video.

Twitter link

So, it is clear that the viral video is from April 2022 and unrelated to the recent Tirupati stampede.

Conclusion- 

Fact crescendo found the claim made along with the viral video to be False. This viral video was taken in April 2022, when a man outside the Sri Venkateswara Ramnarayan (SVR) Ruia Government General Hospital in Tirupati had to take his son’s dead body on a bike for 90 kilometers because the private ambulance allegedly demanded a high fee for transporting the body.