This video has circulated online since 2015 in reports about China's Tianjin chemical blast
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on April 30, 2020 at 05:15
- 3 min read
- By AFP Hong Kong
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The video was published here on Facebook on April 22, 2020. It has been viewed more than 850 times.
The 10-second video shows fires and sparks occurring in succession. Shouting and loud bangs can be heard throughout the footage.
The post’s simplified Chinese-language caption translates to English as: “China, Lianyungang, silicon carbide plant, explosion.”
Below is a screenshot of the misleading Facebook post:
A fire broke out at a chemical plant in Lianyungang, a city in the eastern Chinese province of Jiangsu, on April 21, 2020, resulting in several large explosions throughout the night, according to Chinese media Global Times and People’s Daily here and here, as well as online magazine Sixth Tone here.
The video was posted here on Facebook, here, here and here on Twitter alongside a similar claim.
It was also shared as part of montage clips in posts here on Facebook and here on Twitter with a similar claim.
The claim is false.
A reverse image search of keyframes extracted from the video in the misleading posts found a longer version of the footage published here on YouTube on August 12, 2015.
The title of the video translates to English as: "Full video of Tianjin blasts, three explosions, like the end of the world...”
The footage shared in the misleading post can be seen from the 43-second mark of the YouTube video.
Below is a screenshot comparison of the video in the misleading post (L) and the YouTube video (R):
On August 12, 2015, several large explosions rocked a chemical warehouse in Tianjin, a city in northeast China, killing at least 159 people, according to the Global Times tally. The blasts prompted fresh concerns about increased toxic pollution in the city.
Tianjin is located some 600 kilometres northwest of Lianyungang, according to Google Maps.
Furthermore, a keyword search in Chinese found the same YouTube video published in this August 13, 2015, report on Shanghai-based news website Eastday about the Tianjin explosions.
The 2015 YouTube video can be seen from the 17-second mark of the footage included in the report, which is titled: "Full video record of Tianjin blasts / Three explosions with flames lighting up sky”.
Below is a screenshot of the Eastday report:
AFP also found the 2015 YouTube video published here on the YouTube channel of Hong Kong newspaper Apple Daily on August 13, 2015.
Its description reads in part: “A warehouse in Binhai, Tianjin, China, hit by a big explosion two nights ago."
Below is a screenshot of the Apple Daily video:
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