Video showing bodies of dead Russian coronavirus victims lowered into garbage truck is fake

The clip shows the filming of a rap music video in the Russian capital of Moscow.

AFP – A video has been viewed thousands of times in multiple posts on Facebook and Twitter alongside a claim it shows 200 bodies of dead novel coronavirus victims being lowered into a garbage truck in Russia. The claim is false; the clip shows the filming of a rap music video in the Russian capital of Moscow.

The 23-second clip was shared on Facebook on September 17, 2020. It has been viewed more than 650 times.

The post s Indonesian-language caption translates to English as: “In Russia they buried 200 bodies altogether.

“There was one apartment where all residents died, ten bodies were lowered together to an already full truck.

“O God, please protect us all from this COVID-19 outbreak.”

Several people can be heard speaking Russian in the clip. Their comments can be translated as: “I think it’s people”; “Look, there is the head, the legs” and “They are very light”.

As of September 22, 2020, Russia has recorded more than 1.1 million cases of Covid-19, including 19,649 deaths, according to WHO tally.

The clip has been viewed more than 1,500 times on Facebook as well as on Twitter alongside a similar claim

Other posts, have circulated on Facebook alongside a claim that the incident occurred in Italy.

The same clip was also shared with a similar claim in Malaysian language and in Arabic.

The claim, however, is false.

The clip in the misleading posts contains a watermark for a TikTok account @adrialclear. The TikTok account posted the same video, with added background music, on September 20, 2020. The video s Russian-language caption translates as: “18+ sensational video that was deleted and many have not seen yet”.

A reverse image search followed by keyword searches found a similar video taken from a different angle posted by Russian media outlet Mash on Facebook on September 4, 2020.

Translated from Russian to English, the 50-second clip’s title reads: “Incredible scenes at the M. Vladimirsky Clinical Institute in Moscow”.

The caption reads: “And such incredible scenes today are at the M. Vladimirsky Clinical Institute (MONIKI) in Moscow. Passersby thought that someone was stealing corpses from the local morgue, but everything turned out to be much less creepy. The shooting of the music video is in progress.”

Below is the screenshot comparison between the clip in the misleading post (L) and Mash’s video (R):

Russian TV channel REN TV published a report about the footage on September 4, 2020.

Translated from Russian to English, the report‘s headline reads: “‘Dead people’: Muscovites were frightened by ‘corpses’ hanging from the roof of the hospital”.

The report s first three paragraphs reads: “The attention of residents of the capital passing by Shchepkina Street today turned to the ‘corpses’ that have appeared on the wall of the Moscow Regional Research Clinical Institute (MONIKI), next to the Church of the Icon of the Mother of God, Joy of All Who Sorrow.

“It turned out that the ‘performance with corpses in sacks’ is an artistic image. In the area of the hospital, a new music clip of rapper Husky is currently being filmed. The REN TV correspondent talked with the producer of the project, and also got the opinion of the townspeople, who were clearly surprised by what was happening.

“Producer Mikhail Marizov noted that mannequins are used in the work. According to him, the film crew received all the necessary permissions to create the clip.”

The buildings seen in the clips match the buildings of Moscow Regional Research and Clinical Institute (MONIKI) and the church on Google Street View.

Russian media Life.ru also published a report on the viral video on September 4, 2020.

The Russian headline and subheadline translate to English as: “Muscovites are shocked by the ‘corpses in bags’ on the wall of the hospital. It turned out all for the sake of art.

“The eerie scene turned out to be the properties for the music video.”