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| - Rome's Iron Bridge on fire after Baltimore bridge collapse? NOPE, old video viral
The video featuring Rome's Iron Bridge on fire is from October 2021.
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India Today Fact Check
This video of the Iron Bridge is from October 2, 2021.
Days after a cargo ship rammed into Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge on March 26, causing it to collapse, a video featuring a burning bridge went viral on social media. Those sharing it claimed that the “Iron Bridge”, which spans the river Tiber in Rome, caught fire on March 28, two days after the Baltimore bridge collapse.
Some social media users called the incident “suspicious”, demanding an investigation into the targeting of critical infrastructure.
One person shared the video on X writing, “2 Bridges in 1 week. Color me surprised. Not. The ‘Iron Bridge’ in Rome, Italy burned down and collapsed yesterday evening.” Its archive can be seen here.
India Today Fact Check found that the video is not recent. It is from October 2, 2021.
OUR PROBE
Reverse searching keyframes from the viral video led us to the same clip shared on X back in October 2021. With the help of a keyword search, we found several media reports about this incident.
A report by Reuters stated that a huge fire broke out on the night of October 2, 2021, damaging Rome’s Iron Bridge. The bridge was subsequently closed indefinitely for safety checks.
A video shared on the YouTube channel of “Fanpage.it”, an Italy-based newspaper, showed parts of the bridge falling into the river while still ablaze.
Quoting the firefighters, the Independent reported that the fire erupted before midnight on October 2, 2021, near the Ostiense neighbourhood and was extinguished by 4 am the next day. This happened on the eve of the mayoral elections. The fire destroyed parts of the Iron Bridge, which plunged into the River Tiber. Three nearby nightclubs were reportedly evacuated. However, no injuries were reported.
It is thus clear that a 2021 video of Rome's Iron Bridge on fire was falsely shared as a recent incident.
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