Video of children crossing a river in a thermocol box is not from Madhya Pradesh

This video is from a village in Indonesia, not from Madhya Pradesh and it dates back to 2021.

A video of students crossing a river by hand-paddling a thermocol box into a canoe is going viral on social media, The video shows students rowing across a river in a square thermocol box, complete with uniforms and school bags. The accompanying description, indicating that this is an incident from Madhya Pradesh.

Let’s check the truth

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Fact Check-

We began our investigation by running a reverse image search on Google with the key frames of the viral video, which led us to some reports. According to a report published by the media outlet  Jumpy Update on 26 September, 2021, this video is from South Sumatra, Indonesia. The report states that the children crossed the river to go to school using Styrofoam card board boxes (Thermocol and Styrofoam are brand names – the former by BASF and the latter by Dow Chemicals) as canoes. The report says that these children are from the village of Kuala Dua Belas in the Tulungagung Selapan district. 

After the footage went viral, politicians intervened. Indonesian House of Representatives member Fadli Son shared the video. Former Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Susi Pudjiastuti later commented that the issue would be resolved.  

The Compass report states that the incident took place in September 2021. Similar reports have also been carried by media outlets like Detik , TV One News , and  Tribune News  .

Moving forward, we came across a YouTube video also regarding this incident by Metro TV. The caption states, “Elementary School Students in South Sumatra Cross River Using Styrofoam Go Viral”. The description part mentions that the river they crossed is located in Kuala Dua Belas Village, Tulung Selapan District, Ogan Komering Ilir (OKI) Regency, South Sumatra.

When searching for incidents of students crossing rivers using thermocol in India, media outlets like  Times of India and ANI  reported in September 2023 that an incident of students going to school on a raft made of thermocol took place in Maharashtra.

But this video of children crossing a river to school using a thermocol box is from Indonesia.

The viral video features the New India logo. The video is made like a media report with a logo and a caption in Hindi. Further investigation revealed that the video was edited and shared by Badal Kumar Thakur . He also posted a comment on the post asking for money to help the children. 

Taking all this evidence, we can clearly understand the viral video is from a village in Indonesia not from Madhya Pradesh.

Conclusion-

Fact Crescendo found the claim made along with the viral video is False. This viral video does not originate from Madhya Pradesh. It was taken in 2021 in South Sumatra, Indonesia.