A Facebook post about two children who allegedly drowned in the backseat of a car is evoking strong emotions among users.
Around four weeks after the flood disaster in Germany, clean-up work is still underway. The reports are becoming fewer and various rumors are becoming quieter. But one claim has been around for a few weeks and is still widely shared on social media: two children are said to have drowned in the back seat of a car that was recovered from the Ahr.
“That used to be a 500 Mercedes… an excavator driver pulled it out of the Ahr this morning. There were two child seats in the back seat… with two small children. The excavator driver collapsed.”
Drowned children
In Rhineland-Palatinate, the number of deaths as of August 11th is 141 , and seven people are still missing. 48 people have died in North Rhine-Westphalia and there are no longer any missing people.
AFP asked directly the crisis team in Rhineland-Palatinate, where all aid organizations such as the fire brigade, police and the Bundeswehr come together. Body discoveries will be reported to the police, police spokesman Ulrich Sopart said in a call from AFP. Referring to the children allegedly found in a wrecked car, he further explains:
“The incident you describe is not known to the police. I just had it checked again – we didn’t find two children’s bodies in a vehicle anywhere in the operations room.”
There is also no information about this car wreck or the excavator driver mentioned in the posting. Sopart doubts the authenticity of the claim:
“It is probably another hoax, as has been appearing again and again on the Internet and social networks in the last few days for some unknown reason.”
AFP asked the Interior Ministry of North Rhine-Westphalia on the same day, where spokeswoman Katja Heine confirmed in an email that there were no children among the dead
AFP also asked Christian Jäger, managing director of the Rhineland-Palatinate Undertaker Association, about the allegations and received the following answer by email:
“We have no knowledge of such an incident and would fundamentally deny any credibility to Facebook posts without further sources.”
Mercedes 500
Furthermore, it cannot be confirmed with certainty that the vehicle shown is actually a Mercedes 500. After asking Mercedes directly, spokesman Markus Nast stated that “we cannot determine the exact location of the wreckage.”
Conclusion
There is no confirmation from official authorities. Neither the police, nor the North Rhine-Westphalia Ministry of the Interior nor the Rhineland-Palatinate undertakers' association can confirm the discovery of two children's bodies in the back of a wrecked car.
The Interior Ministry spokeswoman also stated that there were no children among those killed in the flood disaster.
The police also do not have any information about the excavator driver mentioned in the article.
It cannot be confirmed whether the vehicle wreckage was actually a destroyed Mercedes 500.
It is obvious that this is a hoax, which is more likely aimed at denouncing the chaos in the aid operations.
You might also be interested in: Incompetent rescue workers? The staged dysfunctional disaster response (Mimikama plus article)
Source: AFP
Notes:
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