Covid 19 virus has been spreading rapidly over the past few weeks in Sri Lanka.The number of infected people as well as the number of deaths are increasing daily. Due to this intensifying situation in the country, the management of covid19 infected death bodies has become a challenge to the country`s health authorities.
Also the misinformation around COVID-19 have increased on social media. Factcrescendo Sri Lankan team came across such a misleading post sharing a photo as the dedicated place for burying the covid-19 infected dead bodies in Sri Lanka at Oddaamawadi graveyard in Batticaloa. Below is our investigation of this photograph which went viral among local users not only Sinhala but in Tamil and English too.
Viral Social Media Posts:
A Facebook page named as “ඔබ දැන සිටියාද? Did You Know?” published a photo with claiming to be scene from Oddamadavadi graveyard in Sri Lanka. The English translation of the post caption is “A Scene of Oddamawadi graveyard where covid dead bodies being buried.Be Safe!”
The content went viral among WhatsApp users as seen below.
Fact Check
We did a Google Reverse Image Search and we were able to find a similar photo in Indonesian news website named as JavaPos.com, which depicted the same background of the graveyard image which went viral in Sri Lanka.
There was an explanation regarding this image in that website and it revealed that the burial related with this image had occurred in an area named as Rorotan TPU, North Jakarta of Indonesia.
A website named BeritaJakarta also carried a news, stating that a special area of North Jakarta was allocated for covid-19 burials.
The YouTube channel KOMPASTV, also revealed that this burial ground was from Jakarta Indonesia as seen here. BBC news report about this place can be viewed here.
Our Factcrescendo Cambodian team also did a similar investigation regarding this graveyard and a video can be seen below. The video is from Indonesia and in this video you can see the graveyard from the same angle as seen in the viral photo.
The real images of Oddamavadi graveyard in Batticaloa, Sri Lanka can be seen in this news report.
Here is Factcrescendo Sinhala team’s investigation about this viral content in Sinhala, where local authorities also denied the claims about the viral image. They also clarified that steps are in place to look at the possibility of new locations to bury the COVID19 dead bodies as well, since the available space at Oddamavadi graveyard was limited.
Factcrescendo SL Tamil version of this viral content can be reached here
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Conclusion
From our investigation, it is clear that an image captured at a graveyard in Northern Jakarta in Indonesia is being shared as Oddamavadi graveyard in Batticaloa, Sri Lanka.
