An Indian journalist who was criticised for reporting on the deadly floods while sitting on the shoulders of one of the victims has hit out at his cameraman after being sacked.

Narayan Pargaien, who has now been fired by News Express, said the controversial report from the waterlogged north of the country was ‘entirely the cameraman’s fault’ and claimed his colleague was trying to sabotage his career.

The video of Mr Pargaien reporting from the Uttarakhand floods, in which around 1,000 people died, has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times via YouTube and numerous media outlets.

He has been criticised for his apparently callous treatment of the unnamed man – who is seen wobbling under the strain of holding Mr Pargaien above the water level.




But now the reporter has lashed out, claiming the cameraman was only supposed to film him from the waist up.

Zoomed in: The shot the reporter believed would have improved his report (Picture: YouTube)

‘This was entirely the cameraman’s fault, who, it seems, almost tried to sabotage my career by shooting from that distance and angle and releasing the video mocking this whole incident, and making me the villain,’ Mr Pargaien said.

‘It wasn’t my idea to begin with, but there was this man who took me to his home and asked me to report the damage he had suffered.

‘His house was in a miserable condition and he had lost a lot in the flood, and was left with very little food and water.

‘We helped him with some food and some money and he was grateful to us and wanted to show me some respect [by carrying me across the river], as it was the first time someone of my level had visited his house,’ Mr Pargaien added to News Laundry, before revealing he had paid the man 50 rupees (55p).

In firing the reporter, News Express channel head Nishant Chaturvedi described Mr Pargaien’s actions as ‘very inhuman’.

‘You cannot ride on someone’s back for a story. We terminated him on Tuesday,’ he said.

Narayan Pargaien’s report from the flood has earned him the sack (Picture: YouTube/News Express)