Old Image of Car Drowning in a Lake Falsely Linked to Baltimore Bridge Collapse

Fact-check: An old and unrelated image from Ireland is being falsely linked to the bridge collapse in Baltimore.

(Photo: The Quint)

A photo showing a car almost submerged in a water body is going viral on social media where users are linking it to Francis Scott Key Bridge that collapsed in United States' Baltimore.

Some context: The bridge in Baltimore Harbor collapsed on 26 March after a large cargo ship rammed into the structure.

• Several vehicles on the bridge at the time plunged into the River Patapsco.

An archive can be seen here.

(Source: X/Screenshot)

(Archives of similar claims can be seen here and here.)

What's the truth?: This image dates back to 2022 and is from Ireland.

How did we find out the truth?: We performed a reverse image search on the viral image and this led us to an article shared by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) on 1 January 2022.

• The article states that a car entered the River Roe near Dungiven, a town in Northern Ireland.

• It added that according to the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service (NIFRS) , they used ropes to help the driver and get the car out on the river.

• The image was credited to NIFRS and we found a Facebook post on their official page.

• NIFRS shared several image related to the incident on 1 January 2022.

Conclusion: Clearly, an old and unrelated image from Ireland is being falsely linked to the bridge collapse in Baltimore.

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