Image From Accident In Ukraine Shared As West Bengal

An image of an accident that occurred at a steel mill in Ukraine has been misleadingly used in a Facebook graphic by a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) fan page to claim that it shows series of blasts in West Bengal ahead of the election.

The graphic has text in Bangla along with the image, which states that the Trinamool Congress (TMC) led government of West Bengal has been intimidated by BJP. It further states how there has been consecutive blasts conducted by the TMC in several areas of Bengal and the same has become a common occurrence during elections. The graphic further urges netizens to join the BJP and bring in a change by overthrowing the Mamata Banerjee led government.

West Bengal assembly elections are scheduled for April-May 2021. BJP has been aggressively campaigning for the upcoming WB elections, after it won several seats from the state in the 2019 general elections.

The graphic has text in Bangla that reads, "Trinamool Congress is scared of BJP. By conducting simultaneous explosions in Sujapur and thereafter in Naihati, the ruling party is scaring general people who are familiar with bombing in West Bengal's election. Election commission needs to be careful for general public. Join BJP family." The graphic has been shared by a page named Amar Poribar BJP Poribar (My Family BJP Family), which has over 1.40 lakh likes.

(Original Text in Bangla: বিজেপিকে ভয় পাচ্ছে তৃণমূল। সুজাপুরের পর নৈহাটি, পরপর বাংলায় বিস্ফোরণ বোমাবাজি করে সাধারণ মানুষকে ভয় দেখাচ্ছে শাসকদল, বাংলার নির্বাচনে বোমাবাজি চলে। সাধারণ মানুষের জন্য ভোটে সতর্ক থাকতে হবে কমিশনকে। বিজেপি পরিবারে যোগ দিন। বাংলায় আসল পরিবর্তনের শপথ নিন।)

Click here to see the post and here for archived link.

According to reports, a massive explosion occurred in North 24 Parganas' Naihati in January this year. While the BJP alleged that it was an RDX blast, West Bengal police suggested that the explosion occurred when they were conducting a controlled detonation of firecrackers recovered from a Naihati factory. In North Bengal's Malda district five workers were killed and at least four others injured in an explosion at a plastic factory in Sujapur area of West Bengal's Malda district on November 20. The BJP has demanded an impartial inquiry into the blast, alleging that the factory was illegally used to make bombs. Read more here.

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Fact Check

Upon doing a reverse search on the image used in the graphic BOOM was led to a stock image by Istock Photo which was uploaded on March 22, 2017.

The image has been captioned as, "Accident at a steel mill." Additional tags with the photograph reads, "Ukraine, Fire, Factory, Produce, Industry"

Istock also has a similar image from a different angle of the incident.

Additionally, the image used in the viral post can be seen on another photo website, Shutterstock here.

The stock images archive credited photographer Shestakov Dmytro for the image. BOOM reached out to Dmytro on Instagram who confirmed that the photo was taken in 2015 in Ukarine. "It was a minor hardware issue that was fixed right away. There were no consequences for production or aberration for environment, " Dmytro said.

Shutterstock's image by Shestakov Dmytro.

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Image From Accident In Ukraine Shared As West Bengal

BOOM found that the image was clicked by Ukrainian photographer Shestakov Dmytro in 2015 and not linked to West Bengal.

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