Jabalpur cruise tragedy | Viral mother-child photo fake or real?

The Jabalpur cruise tragedy on Thursday that killed at least nine left some agonizing visuals. One of the heart-wrenching pictures that went viral showed a woman clutching her child as they both drowned in the Bargi dam.

One of the divers who first brought this to the fore during media interaction said he was shocked to see the child in the woman's arms. Although the story was real, the image that went viral was apparently fake.

As the story gained traction, a picture surfaced online claiming to feature the deceased mother and the child.

The Jabalpur Collector has cleared the air saying the photo being widely shared on social media is not real and could be AI-generated.

"Jabalpur -- This photo is AI-generated or from some other source. It has no connection with the Bargi cruise accident," the Jabalpur Collector posted on X.

Post shared by Jabalpur DM.

Meanwhile, army divers and disaster response teams on Saturday expanded their search at the Dam to locate a man and three children. The death toll currently stands at nine and six people are still missing.

With 28 of the 41 identified passengers onboard the ill-fated cruise boat rescued safely, police are preparing to register an FIR in connection with the accident that occurred at the reservoir in Jabalpur district on Thursday evening, they said.

The search radius has been expanded to 5 km in the backwaters of the Bargi Dam, located downstream of the Narmada River, area sub-divisional officer of police (SDOP) Anjul Ayank Mishra told PTI.