“Photo of Gerard Omel, a mountaineer who climbed Mount Everest six times, died after falling from a ladder while changing a light bulb at home.”
What FACTLY found
The man in the viral image is Adrian Ballinger, head guide of Alpenglow Expeditions. There is no evidence that Gerard Omel died by changing a lightbulb or had climbed Everest six times. A search of the High Adventure Expeditions website for Everest climbers as of December 2023 found no records for Gerard Omel.
Their words, from the summary they publish with the rating.
In short
This claim spread on social media around 14 November 2024. FACTLY (India) looked into it and published its finding on 15 November 2024, 1 day later. Its rating was “FALSE”.
Where the claim appeared
- Facebook posthttps://www.facebook.com/kalyani.iyengar/posts/pfbid025QFFnNGGUvYUxcSnYkWrKxQD5ZCYXE14X8v…
Links recorded by FACTLY. Some posts may have been deleted since.
This check was done by FACTLY, not by DoesItStand. We list it so you can find it. Their full evidence and reasoning are in their article.