A woman in Sri Lanka gave birth to sextuplets in October 2023, a rare occurrence with odds estimated at one in 4.7 billion. A photo of six babies has been shared hundreds of times on social media in the South Asian country alongside a false claim that it shows the newborn boys in the capital Colombo. But the picture was actually taken at a hospital in the US state of Connecticut in 1995, nearly 30 years ago.

"Here are the six little sons that a mother from Ragama gave birth to. The hospital director says they are all in good health," reads a Sinhala-language Facebook post from October 17, referring to a suburb of Colombo.

It is accompanied by a picture of six babies swaddled in hospital beds. The post has since been shared more than 800 times.

The post began circulating just hours after news broke on October 17 that a mother from Ragama had given birth to sextuplets at a hospital in the Sri Lankan capital (archived link).

According to local media outlet Ada Derana, doctors said the boys were born prematurely, at 26 weeks, and were receiving medical attention (archived link).

Other reports said the mother and babies were in good health (archived link).

Identical claims that the photo showed the sextuplets soon spread across Facebook, including in posts here and here.

However, the picture shows infants at a hospital nursery in Danbury, Connecticut, and was captured in 1995 by late American photographer Blaine Harrington III.

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