A gas tanker blast in the western Indian city of Jaipur killed at least 17 people in December, local authorities said, but footage of massive explosions viewed millions of times online do not show the disaster. One misrepresented clip was filmed in Lebanon while another was taken in Italy.
“Jaipur LPG blast,” read a Hindi-language Instagram post on December 22, 2024.
The post included a video — which has racked up more than 12 million views — showing a huge explosion followed by a plume of smoke rising, with screaming heard later in the background.
Similar posts were also shared here, here and here after an LPG tanker exploded on a highway in Jaipur on December 20 (archived link).
Screenshot of the false post, taken on December 24, 2024
Another Instagram post shared a clip of a truck exploding in flames on a highway with the caption: “A huge explosion took place in Jaipur and a huge fire broke out #jaipur #news”.
“Live video of Jaipur fire incident. See what a terrible accident happened due to the collision of an LPG gas truck,” read part of the overlaid text on the video.
Sushil Bhati, superintendent of Sawai Man Singh Hospital in Jaipur, told AFP that the death toll from the incident has reached at least 17.
“This number may increase further, many patients are still in critical condition in the hospital. We are trying our best to save them,” Bhati said on December 25.
According to Indian media reports, the explosion occurred when a truck collided with an LPG tanker attempting a U-turn, setting off a giant fireball that razed approximately 34 vehicles (archived link).
The videos circulating online, however, are old and not filmed in India.
Beirut blast
A reverse image search of the first clip’s keyframes found it was earlier published on AFP’s YouTube channel on August 5, 2020 (archived link).
The headline of the video report said it was filmed in Lebanon’s capital Beirut. It read, “Beirut explosions: what happened?”
On August 4, 2020, two explosions at Beirut’s port devastated entire city neighbourhoods, killing more than 100 people, wounding thousands and leaving hundreds of thousands homeless.
The government said the massive blast appears to have been caused by a fire igniting 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate left unsecured in a warehouse.
Below is a screenshot comparison of the false post (left) and the video posted on YouTube by AFP (right):
Screenshot comparison of the false post video (left) and the AFP video (right)
The video was also published by media organisations NBC News and Sky News (archived links here and here).
Italy truck fireball
A further Google reverse image search found the second clip corresponds to footage also published on YouTube by AFP on August 7, 2018 (archived link).
“Tanker truck fireball engulfs road near Bologna,” read the title of the video, which shows the incident from another angle.
Below is a screenshot comparison of the false post (left) and the AFP video (right):
Screenshot comparison of the false post video (left) and the AFP video (right)
The description of the video said a tanker truck exploded and created a fireball on a motorway outside the northern Italian city of Bologna.
The blast — which occurred near the area of Borgo Paginale in the west of the city close to Bologna’s airport — created a huge hole in the flyover where the explosion took place. The highway collapsed onto another road below (archived link).
The video was also published on the verified YouTube channel of American television program Inside Edition (archived link).
