By Srijit Das
A video of an explosion is being shared on social media with captions falsely claiming that the footage shows protests in West Bengal over the reported controversial remarks made by suspended Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson Nupur Sharma on Prophet Mohammad.
BOOM found that the video shows an explosion at a chemical factory in Gujarat's Vadodara, and not Bengal as claimed in viral posts.
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According to media reports, several districts in West Bengal were in a grip of tension after protests over controversial remarks on Prophet Mohammad turned violent. At least 60 people were arrested over violent clashes in Howrah, several parts of Murshidabad district and South 24 Pargana district. The video is being shared in this backdrop.
The viral video shows a massive blast in what looks like an industrial unit followed by a umbrella of smoke rising up in the air. The video has been recorded from a moving vehicle.
A Bangla caption with the video translates to 'The fire set by the jihadis in Howrah's Salap. This is not from Bangladesh, it is from Howrah district in West Bengal. How much you will sleep Hindus, wake up'.
(Bangla: হাওড়ার সলপের জিহাদিদের লাগানো আগুন,,, এটা বাংলাদেশের নয় এটা পশ্চিমবঙ্গ রাজ্যে হাওড়া জেলা আর কতো ঘুমাবে হিন্দুরা জাগো জাগো)
Click here and here to view the posts.
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Fact Check
BOOM did a reverse image search on one of the keyframes from the viral footage and found the same video on a tweet from the verified handle of News 18 on June 2, 2022. The tweet reads 'An explosion, followed by fire, occurred at Deepak Nitrite Company in Nandesari GIDC in Vadodara, Gujarat'.
Click here to view the tweet.
Taking cue, we performed a keyword search and found several news reports related to the incident.
According to a report published in The Hindu Business Line on June 3, 2022, the incident took place on the outskirts of Vadodara in Gujarat. "A portion of Deepak Nitrite's chemical manufacturing facility in Nandesari industrial area on the outskirts of Vadodara city in Gujarat was engulfed by a major fire on Thursday evening," the report stated.
The report also mentioned that seven workers had been hospitalised while around 700 people living in vicinity of the factory where the mishap occurred were shifted to safer locations.
News outlet NDTV also reported about the incident on a news report on June 2, 2022 sharing visuals from the mishap site.
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