Fact Check: 2015 video of explosion in Chinese warehouse shared as Russian attack on Ukraine power plant
A video of an explosion at a power plant is going viral amidst the ongoing Russia-Ukraine crisis. Social media users are sharing the video with the claim that
By Newsmeter Network Published on 25 Feb 2022 8:45 AM GMT
Hyderabad: A video of an explosion at a power plant is going viral amidst the ongoing Russia-Ukraine crisis. Social media users are sharing the video with the claim that it shows a Russian airstrike setting off a chain reaction at the Luhansk power plant in Ukraine.
FACT CHECK:
NewsMeter performed a reverse image search and found that the same video had been uploaded by several YouTube channels in 2015. This confirms that the video is old and not linked to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine crisis. The description of the video reads "The 2015 Tianjin explosion" indicating that the explosion took place in Tianjin, China, in 2015.
Taking this as a cue, NewsMeter searched online and found similar visuals in a news report by BBC News from August 2015. The footage shows two massive explosions in Tianjin when a warehouse owned by a company specializing in handling hazardous goods caught fire and exploded. Dozens of people died and hundreds were injured. The footage was filmed by eyewitness Dan van Duren.
The incident was also reported by The Guardian and CNBC. The CNBC report that had carried the same video read, "A massive explosion hit a "dangerous goods" warehouse in Tianjin, China, on Wednesday, killing at least 50 people and leaving emergency services staff trapped in the rubble."
Clearly, the viral video is not linked to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine crisis. A 2015 video of an explosion in a warehouse in China's Tianjin is being shared with false claims.
