Claim: A video shows a crocodile dragging a man’s corpse in a lake. One post claims it is an illegal immigrant who tried crossing into the UK via Dover, while another claims it is a Pakistani man who wanted to enter the US.
Fact: The video shows an incident that took place at Laguna del Carpintero (“Carpenter’s Lake”) in the city of Tampico, Tamaulipas, Mexico. The man’s identity has not been revealed by news sources.
On 9 September 2024, a user on X (formerly Twitter) posted (archive) a video of a crocodile dragging a man’s body in a lake. The caption of the post read as follows:
“Illegal immigrant trying to cross the is eaten[sic] by a crocodile. UK should invest in crocodile farming at Dover.”
The video was also shared by other users who claimed the victim was an immigrant, but mentioned different locations of the incident.
On the same day, another X user posted (archive) the same video with the following caption:
“A Pakistan origin immigrant Mohammad Altaf who wanted to enter the United States ends up eaten by a crocodile.”
The video and claim of the man being an illegal immigrant trying to cross into the US was also shared here (archive), here (archive), here (archive), and here (archive) on X.
One user on X did not specify the location of the incident, only stating it was a case of illegal immigration. This can be seen here (archive).
Fact or Fiction?
Researching the incident on Google and conducting a reverse image search of the keyframes of the video revealed that the incident took place in August 2022. Moreover, it took place in Laguna del Carpintero (“Carpenter’s Lake”) in the city of Tampico, Tamaulipas, Mexico, and not in the UK or US.
The location of the incident being Tampico, Mexico was confirmed by the New York Post (archive), Tamaulipas Post (archive), Mexico Daily Post (archive), El Imparcial (archive), Newsweek (archive), Fox 25 (archive), and The Science Times (archive).
However, Soch Fact Check could not confirm whether the victim was an immigrant as the identity of the man has not been revealed by any news source. The coverage of the incident by the sources mentioned above also acknowledged that the identity of the man has not been revealed. We only found one article, published by Mexico News Daily (archive) which claimed that the victim was a “Tamaulipas man.”
The New York Post, Fox 25, Newsweek, and The Science Times quoted Porfirio Ibarra, a correspondent for the Associated Press, who posted (archive) the video on X on 19 August 2022. Ibarra stated that the man had allegedly entered the lake to swim.
Journalist Arturo Luna Silva posted (archive) the video on X on the same day, stating that the victim had gone swimming, even though it is strictly prohibited in Laguna del Carpintero.
Mexico News Daily and publimetro (archive) stated that witnesses saw the man enter the lake around 8:30 am. These two sources and The Mirror (archive) reported that the crocodile and deceased victim were found later by emergency services near the city’s Volantín neighbourhood, where the crocodile was captured.
Therefore, Soch Fact Check rates the claim that the video was shot in the UK or US as false. It was taken in the city of Tampico, Mexico. Though it could not be confirmed whether the victim was an immigrant or not, it appears he went into the lake for swimming. Both the crocodile and victim were found later near the city’s Volantín neighbourhood.
Virality
The post on X claiming that the man is an illegal immigrant and the incident took place in the UK has 173.7 K views.
The post on X claiming that the man is of Pakistani origin and the incident took place in the US has 268.2 K views.
Conclusion: The video shows an incident which took place in August 2022, at Laguna del Carpintero (“Carpenter’s Lake”) in the city of Tampico, Tamaulipas, Mexico. It is not from the UK or US. The identity of the victim, however, has not been revealed by news sources.
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Background image in cover photo: Unsplash