This footage shows a pipeline explosion in Egypt, not a failed robbery by Zimbabweans

This article is more than one year old.
Published on November 5, 2021 at 14:04
2 min read
By Tendai DUBE, AFP South Africa

A video with thousands of views on Instagram purports to show an explosion after "Zimbabwean men" attempted to steal oil from a pipeline. The claim is false: the clip is of a 2020 pipeline explosion in Egypt and has been shared with several other false claims since.

The post published on November 2, 2021, includes a 30-second video showing a massive explosion that appears to have engulfed a number of parked cars on a skid-marked road. A man can be seen moving towards the camera, as dark grey clouds of smoke fill the sky.

“Zimbabwean Men tried to steal oil from a pipeline then it ended up in a disaster after one shot at the oil tank,” reads the caption of the post.

A screenshot of the false Instagram post, taken on November 4, 2021

AFP Fact Check has previously debunked posts containing the video: the first claiming the clip showed the aftermath of an attack carried out by Hamas against Israel, and the second claiming it showed an oil pipeline explosion in the United Arab Emirates.

Explosion in Egypt

A keyword and reverse image search found the same video published on July 15, 2020, in a report by UK television channel Sky News about an oil pipeline explosion in the Egyptian capital of Cairo.

As reported here and here, the fire broke out after a spark caused by passing cars ignited the crude oil, not because of men who shot at the pipeline, as claimed in the false post.

A longer version of the video published by Canadian news outlet Global News on July 15, 2020, shows a road sign near the fire with “Cairo Airport” written in Arabic and English.

A screenshot of the Global News video published on July 15, 2020.

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