This video shows victims of a gas leak at an Indian chemical plant in 2020
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on April 27, 2021 at 11:35
- 2 min read
- By AFP Sri Lanka
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The video was shared in this Facebook post on April 23, 2021.
The post's Sinhala-language caption translates to English as: "India's current situation. May the triple gems bless you all".
The term "triple gems" refers to the Three Gems of Buddhism.
The same video was also shared with a similar claim on Facebook here and here; on Twitter here.
The posts were shared as India's virus infection and death rate grew exponentially, overwhelming hospitals. AFP reported on the crisis here.
Part of the same video was also aired by Sri Lankan TV channel Hiru on their news programme on April 23, 2021. It was titled: "Highest number of infections (Covid-19) from India".
It was also shared on Chinese social media platform Weibo here, here and here alongside a similar claim. Chinese text superimposed on the video reads: “Covid situation in India”.
The claim is false: the video actually shows victims of a gas leak in south India in May 2020.
A reverse Google image search with video keyframes extracted with InVID-WeVerify, a digital verification tool, found this identical footage uploaded on YouTube on May 7, 2020.
The clip is titled: "Vizag gas leak tragedy explained ! India ! Styrene chemical ! LG's chemical plant".
Below is a screenshot comparison of the video in the misleading posts (L) and the YouTube clip (R)
The gas leak in Visakhapatnam on May 7, 2020 killed 12 people and left hundreds hospitalised, AFP reported.
Other screenshots from the same footage were also published here on May 7, 2020 by the New Indian Express, an Indian daily newspaper.
Below is a screenshot comparison:
AFP has previously debunked a similar claim in May 2020 that used visuals showing victims of the Visakhapatnam gas leak here.
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