Unrelated Video, Images Shared As Arrival Of Ambulances From Pakistan

According to reports, Pakistan's Edhi Foundation approached Prime Minister Narendra Modi and proposed sending 50 ambulances and staff to India to assist efforts during the current spurt of covid cases. Edhi Foundation, a Karachi based organisation, was founded by late philanthropist Abdul Sattar Edhi in 1951. It operates 1,800 free-of-cost ambulance services in Pakistan. Edhi is now headed by Faisal Edhi son of Abdul Edhi, who wrote a letter to PM Modi proposing medical aid to India.

"The people are suffering and this affected us. We have dealt with Covid-19 cases across Pakistan and we have the experience of operating in such situations. That's why we offered our services," he said speaking over phone to Hindustan Times.

The viral images have been shared with a caption in Bangla which reads, "Victory for Humanity. With support of Oxygen and Nurse 50 Ambulances are arriving from eternal enemy Pakistan."

(Original text in Bangla: হোক মানবতার জয় ৫০টি Ambulance- অক্সিজেন -নার্স সহ ভারতের দিকে রওনা দিচ্ছে চিরশত্রু Pakistan)

Two such posts are archived here and here.

Viral Video

The viral video shows movement of a huge convoy of cars including ambulances on a highway. The video has been captioned in English as, "Edhi ambulance will reach India, Edhi ambulance will reach India."

Click here to see the video. The same video has been shared in Bangla with similar caption.

The videos are archived here and here.

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Fact Check

BOOM ran a reverse image search on the viral photographs and found that both the images are not related to the arrival of ambulances from Pakistan.

Image 1

BOOM found one image was published on April 10, 2017 on The Express Tribune. The similar image was used in an article published in April, 2017 by CPEC Bulletin.

Image 2

This image was published in an article on September 11, 2020 on Live Mint. The image was captioned as, "A fleet of ambulances in Thane." We also found the image on PTI's photo archive.

Viral Video

BOOM found the same video uploaded on July 10, 2016 by a user on YouTube. It is titled as, "Abdul Sattar Edhi's funeral passing layari express highway."

The same video was uploaded by several Pakistani users with a similar narrative. You can see here, here and here. Philanthropist Abdul Sattar Edhi died on 8 July 2019 and was honoured with a state funeral in Pakistan.

BOOM however could not independently verify the video, however was able to ascertain that it is old and not related to the ongoing COVID-19 crises in India.

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