Old video of Sudan factory explosion misleadingly linked to 2023 crisis

This article is more than one year old.
Published on April 28, 2023 at 08:37
3 min read
By Sumit DUBEY, AFP India

Footage of an explosion at a ceramics factory in Sudan in 2019 has been viewed tens of thousands of times in Facebook posts that misleadingly claim it shows deadly fighting that erupted in the African nation in April 2023. A reverse image search found the video in reports about the blast in Sudan's capital Khartoum, which killed 23 people.

"A family from Jind trapped in the Sudan crisis," read a Hindi-language Facebook post shared on April 21, referring to a district in the northern Indian state of Haryana.

The video -- which has been viewed more than 98,000 times -- shows people fleeing as an explosion tears through a building, emitting a plume of black smoke into the sky.

The Facebook post added: "Aman Gupta, a resident of Railway Road, is trapped in the war along with his wife and daughter. An appeal to the central government for help."

Indian media reported on April 21 that a Jind man named Aman Gupta and his family were stuck in Sudan, where a power struggle between two warring generals has spiralled into deadly conflict (archived link).

Screenshot of misleading Facebook post taken on April 23, 2023

Fighting broke out in Sudan on April 15 between forces loyal to army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy turned rival Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) (archived link).

Burhan and Daglo disagreed over the planned integration of the RSF into Sudan's regular army -- a key condition for a final deal aimed at resuming the country’s democratic transition.

At least 512 people had been killed and more than 4,000 wounded in the conflict as of April 27 across Africa's third-biggest country, according to health ministry figures, although the real death toll is likely much higher.

AFP reported on April 23 that around 500 Indian nationals had reached Port Sudan, on the Red Sea, where the United Nations and others have relocated some of their personnel (archived link).

Ceramics factory blast

A reverse image search of a screenshot from the video found it in a Facebook post from 2019 about a deadly blast at a ceramics factory in Sudan's capital Khartoum.

The post from December 4, 2019 says: "A gas tanker in Sudan exploded at a ceramics factory in the industrial zone of Bahri, Khartoum. At least 23 people were killed and 45 injured."

An Arabic-language tweet from December 3, 2019 shared the same video, saying it showed the blast. The caption translates to English as: "Part of the explosion that happened in Salomi Ceramic factory".

Below is a screenshot comparison of the misleading Facebook post (left) and the post from 2019 (right):

Comparison of screenshots from Facebook posts shared out of context (left) and post from 2019 (right)

A further keyword search found various news articles about the blast, including this report by Darfur24 (archived link), which shows similar visuals of the fire.

Below is a screenshot comparison of the video in the misleading posts (left) and the image in the Darfur24 report (right):

A screenshot comparison of the video in the misleading posts (left) and the image in the Darfur24 report (right).

AFP reported that at least 23 people were killed and dozens injured as a fire triggered by an explosion in a gas tanker tore through the factory in Khartoum on December 3, 2019 (archived link).

India Today reported that at least 18 Indians were among the dead (archived link).

AFP also published this footage of the Sudanese Civil Defence force extinguishing the flames at the factory site on December 4, 2019 (archived link).

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