Viral claim about girl jumping off flyover is misleading
She was rescued before the rescue team reached the location
Claim: A viral image shows a girl who jumped off a flyover into a river in Jhelum to prove her love for a boy who “escaped immediately”. The girl was later saved by a rescue team.
Fact: The image, in fact, shows a woman who had jumped from the Trimmu Barrage Bridge in Tehsil 18 Hazari District Jhang. The girl was rescued by local fishermen who called rescue services for medical assistance. According to the District Emergency Officer in Jhang, the response time of the rescue team was three minutes and when the rescue team reached the location, they found that the girl had already been rescued from the water and was shifted to an ambulance. It was later confirmed that the girl attempted suicide as a result of family disputes.
On 6 May 2023, an image went viral on Twitter, claiming to show that a young girl had jumped into a river in the Jhelum district. The photo was captioned, “A girl jumped out of a flyover into a river in Jehlum to prove her love to her lover. And the guy for whom she jumped got escaped immediately. Rescue team later rescued the girl.
Girls/Boys for God Sake stop being so stupid for someone who does not even care for you.”
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check got in touch with the chief public information officer for Pakistan Rescue Team, Deeba Shahnaz Akhter, who put us in touch with the District Emergency Officer Jhang, Engr Ali Hasnain. Hasnain provided us with a detailed report about the woman and the rescue operation.
According to DEO Jhang’s statement, the rescue services received a call at 10:58 am on 5 May 2023 regarding the woman in the image. The woman, Ayesha, was a mother of two and resident of Mohallah Bhabhrana, Jhang Sadar. According to the report, Ayesha had attempted suicide by jumping in the Chenab River from a bridge on the Trimmu Barrage due to a family dispute. Local fishermen threw in a rope to save her and called the rescue team. Within three minutes of receiving the call, the rescue team’s nearest vehicle was dispatched towards the site of the incident. When the team reached, the woman had already been extracted from the water by the fishermen and required immediate medical assistance. When the team shifted her to an ambulance, they declared her vitals were normal.
The claim regarding a girl committing suicide by jumping into the Jhelum River in pursuit of a lover, is misleading.
Virality
The tweet was viewed over 87,900 times and received over 1500 interactions.
The same claim was also shared on Facebook here, here, here, here, and here.
Conclusion: The image does not show a girl who jumped from a flyover into a river in Jhelum for her lover.
