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A Reddit post that has been described as the "split face diving accident" online has gone viral on social media. Although the story and gruesome video were uploaded 13 years ago, netizens seem to have caught on to the old post recently.
The story was uploaded on Reddit many years ago by platform user u/zombiedub. It had amassed 93% of upvotes at the time of writing this article.
The horrific accident involving a 16-year-old Beirut resident reportedly occurred in June 2009. The diving accident included a teenager attempting to take a dive off the Manara Promenade, located right across from the American University. Unfortunately, the teenager hit concrete first and then hit the ocean.
What happened in the split face diving accident video?
In the diving accident video, which has resurfaced online, the boy’s brother can be seen taking a successful dive into the sea from the Promenade building, which is over 40 feet. The Reddit post claimed that the brother and his sibling “had made several jumps before and everything had gone fine, but this time he slips and disaster unfolds.”
After the teen boy hit the concrete, a girl standing at the scene could be heard screaming in Arabic - “Oh my God! Oh my God! Someone call the Civil Defense.”
In the next portion of the video, the boy is seen in an American University Hospital ER. The Reddit post claimed that the doctor tried to hold the boy’s face together to protect the airway. The user announced that the teenager was kept alive for two days before he passed away.
“All the surgeons could do was to stitch up his very deep and severe wounds in his face. Although some clinicians on the Net have said that a good ENT could patch this kid up good, this poor guy could not be saved. All they were able to do was to keep him alive in the ICU for two days before he died.”
Viewers doubt diving accident video's authenticity
As the clip amassed traction online, many questioned its validity. Some believed the video to be fake, as hospital footage claimed that the teenager attempted a “failed 9mm suicide.” The Reddit user added that a 9mm accident could not result in such jarring accidents to one’s face.
The social media user also claimed that the video was eery from the beginning due to the trilingual warning posted for the audience. The post added:
“Throughout the video, there is some weird, cheesy, hard to describe instrumental music going in the background for some strange reason really adds to the terror. The amateurish cellphone footage that jumps around jerkily also in some way adds to the terror.”
The Reddit user also said it does not matter whether netizens speculate about the cause of his death. Ultimately, the teenager suffered a massive blow to his head in the diving accident. The user said:
“And this video is downright terrifying, whether the two vignettes, one on the promenade and one in the operating room, are connected or not. They are both real footage, and it doesn't matter if it's the same person or not. It's scary like Saw or Hostel is scary. At the end of the day, that's all that matters.”
It remains unclear why the video is gaining traction now. Twitter user @pazlinx tweeted about the same, and it started to gain traction again. At the time of writing this article, the tweet had amassed over 445 likes.
