Deadly explosion filmed in Mongolia, not South Korea

"On the night of January 1, an explosion occurred at an LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) filling station in Pyeongchang, South Korea after a leak of petroleum gas swept through the street, injuring five," reads the simplified Chinese caption of a post shared on Chinese social media site Weibo on March 5, 2024.

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Screenshot of the false post, taken on March 6, 2024.

The 35-second video -- filmed from above a crossroads -- shows moving traffic before it cuts to a massive explosion ripping through a street.

The clip was shared in similar posts about an explosion in South Korea on Weibo, X, Facebook, and TikTok's Chinese counterpart Douyin.

The posts appear to refer to a blast at a liquefied petroleum gas station on New Year's Day 2024 in South Korea's Pyeongchang county.

Five people were injured in the explosion, South Korean media outlets Arirang and The Korea Herald reported (archived links here and here).

However, the video was in fact filmed in the Mongolian capital Ulaanbaatar.

Mongolia gas explosion

A reverse image search on Google using the video's keyframes found part of the footage published by Netherlands-based media outlet BNO News on January 24, 2024 (archived link).

It was captioned: "BREAKING: Gas truck explodes in Mongolia's capital, killing at least 20 people and setting multiple buildings on fire".

Below is the screenshot comparison of the video in the false posts (left) and the video published by BNO News on X (right): 

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Screenshot comparison between the false post on Weibo (left) and the video published by BNO News (right).

The same footage was also published in reports by media outlets including Azerbaijan's Kanal13 and India's Mirror Now about the explosion in Mongolia (archived links here and here).

On the same day, authorities said six people were killed and 14 injured in a gas explosion after a vehicle crash in the capital Ulaanbaatar, AFP reported (archived link).

AFP found Mongolian news sites Ulstur and Erennews posted identical footage on Facebook to the video shared in the false posts (archived links here and here).

The blast in the video was filmed at a junction in an area of Ulaanbaatar known as Bayanzurkh.

AFP found CCTV footage published by Mongolian National Broadcaster on January 24, 2024, with corresponding elements to the video circulating online (archived link).

Below is the screenshot comparison of the footage shared in the false posts (left) and the image published by Mongolian National Broadcaster (right), with similarities highlighted by AFP:

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Screenshot comparison between the footage shared on Weibo (left) and the image published by Mongolian National Broadcaster (right)

The junction also corresponds to the location shown in an AFP photo after the fire (archived link).

Below is a screenshot comparison of the footage shared in the false posts (left) and the AFP photo (right), with matching features highlighted by AFP:

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Screenshot comparison between the footage shared on Weibo (left) and an overhead-shot image of an AFP photo (right).

The location can also be seen on Google Maps satellite imagery (archived link).