A video of a port-like area under fire is viral with a false claim that it shows the Hazira Port in Surat, Gujarat destroyed from missile strikes amidst the recently ceased military conflict between India and Pakistan.
BOOM found that the video shows an explosion of an oil tanker at Dubai's Jebel Ali Port on July 7, 2021, and has no link with the current situation.
India and Pakistan escalated their military action late into Friday night, with each nuclear-armed nation, launching missiles across borders with confirmed reports of attacks on airbases. On Saturday evening, the Ministry of External Affairs announced a ceasefire agreement with Pakistan during a joint media briefing with the Indian Army.
The 8-second-long footage was shared by multiple users with a viral caption, "India Gujarat Adani owned Hazira Hazira port has been stuck by multiple missiles whole port has been destroyed."
Click here, here and here to view archives of the post.
Fact-check: Viral Video Is from Dubai, Not Hazira
BOOM ran a reverse image search of keyframes from the viral video, which led us to several reports from 2021 of an explosion in Dubai's Jebel Ali Port.
Two such reports were published by Al Jazeera and CNN on an explosion in a container on a ship at the Port of Jebel Ali in Dubai on July 7, 2021. Both these articles contained a similar video of a fire being put out at a port.
Taking cue from this, we did a keyword search, and found a post by UAE's state-run media Emirates News Agency, which carried the same viral video. The post clearly mentioned that it happened in Jebel Ali Port on July 7, 2021 as a result of a fire causing the "explosion within a container on board a ship."
Furthermore, we found no confirmed reports by any media outlet of any missile strikes at Hazira Port, or Surat.
BOOM has reached out to the Adani Group for a comment, and the article will be updated if and when we get a response.
