Abu Dhabi: A viral video and email message about the alleged brutal rape of two Filipinas in Abu Dhabi is nothing but a hoax, Philippine Embassy officials here confirmed.
The hoax was so widely-circulated that it prompted the embassy to report the matter to the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila on Sunday.
According to the email and video, two Filipinas were allegedly raped by a Pakistani taxi driver at the back of Marina Mall on February 20 resulting in the death of one woman while a video footage shows the alleged other victim while being treated for severe wounds at the Shaikh Khalifa Medical City (SKMC).
The video was uploaded on YouTube and Facebook.
The email, believed to have been first sent out on February 22, is still being circulated in the UAE and has reached networks in Manila.
As the hoax continues to spread, embassy officials were deluged with calls from the local Filipino community enquiring about the alleged incident.
The embassy, in a statement released on Monday, said the alleged rape had not happened.
Meanwhile, the authenticity and origin of the video is still being investigated by UAE authorities, officials told Gulf News.
"After an exhaustive investigation, there is no conclusive evidence of any rape that occurred behind Marina Mall. There was no rape victim allegedly treated at the SKMC and there was no reported case of any rape victim who died as a result of the alleged incident", the embassy statement said.
"We would like to inform the public that the video is not of the alleged rape victim, because the incident never occurred." Adelio Angelito Cruz, the embassy's consul-general said.
