| schema:text
| - Fact Check: 2015 video of China blast FALSELY shared as explosion during recent France protests
The explosion took place on the premises of a company specialising in handling hazardous goods in Tianjin, China, and killed more than a hundred people.
Listen to Story
India Today Fact Check
The video is neither from France nor recent. It is from a 2015 explosion in Tianjin, China.
More than 1,300 people have been arrested following violent protests across France over the police killing of a 17-year-old. Protestors damaged property, including buildings and vehicles, and reportedly, there have been lootings as well. Videos and photos of the violence have been widely shared.
A video of a massive explosion has been making the rounds on social media in the meanwhile. Allegedly, it shows the protests in France. The archived version of one such post can be seen here.
India Today found that the video is neither from France nor recent. It is from a 2015 explosion in Tianjin, China.
Our Probe
A reverse search of keyframes from the viral video on Yandex led us to an Instagram account containing the same clip shared back in November 2016. The Urdu caption claimed this was an explosion at a gas station in Haifa, Israel. However, further searches revealed that this was not accurate as well.
We found a longer version of the clip on the official YouTube channel of BBC News, shared on August 14, 2015. The headline and the description of the video stated that the explosion took place in the premises of a company specialising in handling hazardous goods in Tianjin, China. Dozens of people died and hundreds were injured. An eyewitness named Dan van Duren filmed the moment.
The Guardian and ABC News also published similar news reports containing the video at the time.
NBC News reached out to Dan Van Duren, who said that he and his girlfriend recorded the incident on mobile from an apartment building’s roof. The report said that at least 114 people were killed and more than 700 were hospitalised.
We also found that this video has been fodder for misinformation earlier as well. India Today has debunked two such claims earlier. Read those reports here and here.
Thus, it is clear the viral clip is from Tianjin, China and not related to ongoing protests in France.
Please share it on our at 73 7000 7000
You can also send us an email at factcheck@intoday.com
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)