Footage of Malta factory blast falsely linked to explosion in northern Myanmar
- Published on June 15, 2026 at 10:26
- 2 min read
- By AFP Thailand
After a massive explosion killed dozens in northern Myanmar on May 31, 2026, Burmese social media users shared a video falsely claiming it showed the blast in the rebel-held Namhkam township. The video was previously published in media reports about a fireworks factory blast in Malta and AFP geolocated the scene to the Maltese town of Naxxar.
"Namhkam TNLA grenade manufacturing plant short-circuited and exploded, killing 25 Chinese experts and 170 others" reads the Burmese-language Facebook post published on June 3, 2026.
The accompanying seven-second video of a massive explosion racked up more than 500,000 views.
On May 31, a massive blast in northern Myanmar destroyed houses and killed dozens of people (archived link).
The Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), one of the country's most powerful ethnic minority factions, said the blast in Shan state's Namhkam district was caused by the accidental detonation of mining explosives.
A rescuer -- who asked not to be named -- told AFP that 59 people were killed from the blast while the TNLA's official death toll was 43, which included 7 children, with 112 injuries (archived link). Beijing, meanwhile, has confirmed one Chinese national was injured (archived link).
Myanmar has been mired in a civil war since the military grabbed power in a 2021 coup, with the armed forces fighting an array of pro-democracy guerrillas and powerful ethnic minority armed groups.
The video of the explosion was falsely linked to the northern Myanmar blast in Burmese-language posts across Facebook and Tiktok.
But AFP has previously debunked false posts linking the same clip to the Iran war -- it in fact shows an incident on the Mediterranean island of Malta.
Genuine footage of the Myanmar blast shared on social media, verified and distributed by AFP, shows the explosion occurring in a different landscape to the one seen in the circulating video.
A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the falsely shared footage led to a longer video published by France 24 news on June 1, 2026 (archived link).
"A powerful explosion at a fireworks factory in Malta injured two people on Monday, sending a massive plume of smoke and debris into the air, police reported," reads part of the video's description.
The buildings in the foreground of the video match Google Maps Street View imagery of the Chapel of the Annunciation and other buildings on Triq il-Katakombi street in Naxxar, Malta (archived links here and here).
Local Maltese media including the Times of Malta and Malta Today also published the same footage (archived links here and here).
They cited police reports that said no workers were on site at the time of the incident, but two men working in the fields nearby were hospitalized with minor injuries.
AFP also distributed similar photos of the explosion in Malta.
AFP has debunked other misinformation related to Myanmar unrest here.
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