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| - Fact Check: No fire safety and control measures at Mahakumbh? Viral claims are FALSE
Sharing a picture of a man with a bucket, social media users claimed there were no flame control arrangements at the festival, not even fire extinguishers. This is false.
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India Today Fact Check
This is false. Firefighters could be seen dousing the flames in various news reports.
On January 19, the seventh day of the ongoing Mahakumbh festival in Uttar Pradesh’s Prayagraj, a massive fire broke out, resulting in several tents burning down. Reportedly, the fire was a result of LPG cylinders exploding. The following day, another fire broke out in a different sector in the morning while preparations were underway to fry pooris. No injuries or deaths were reported from either incident.
Now, sharing a picture of a man with a bucket, social media users are claiming there are no flame control arrangements at the festival, not even fire extinguishers. An X user shared the image and wrote, “7000 crore spent in the arrangements & there was no fire control. Not even fire extinguishers on site. ppl are using buckets to tackle the fire #Shame #FireAccident #MahaKumbh.” Its archive can be seen here.
India Today Fact Check found that the viral claim is false. We found several news reports about the Mahakumbh fire on January 19. It was extinguished around 4 pm. In a video report by NDTV, various fire brigade vehicles can be seen dousing the flames, contrary to the viral claim. According to reports, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath also arrived at the spot of the incident.
Another report by AajTak also showed National Disaster Response Force, police, and fire safety officials dousing the flames.
While reverse-searching the viral image, we found a video by the news agency IANS. The viral image is a screenshot from this video. The complete video shows people using water buckets alongside firefighters and other security teams using fire brigade vehicles to control the fire.
According to a video report by UPTak, locals also joined hands in trying to control the fire using buckets of water.
Several news reports have mentioned that officials were able to control the fire in about 30 minutes and no casualties were reported. Avinash Chandra, the director general of fire services in Uttar Pradesh told reporters: “Fifty-three fire stations and 20 fire posts have been built and more than 1,300 firemen have been deployed. More than 300 vehicles have been deployed. We will strengthen it even further... The magnitude is so big that there are nine fire stations in the entire Prayagraj district, and there are 53 fire stations and more than 20 fire posts in Mahakumbh alone.”
It is thus clear that the viral claim is patently false.
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