Video From Syria Passed Off As Batala Firecracker Factory Blast

An old video of a blast in Syria's northern city Aleppo, has resurfaced on social media with false claims that it is footage of the recent explosion that occurred at a firecracker factory in Gurdaspur, Punjab.

As many as 23 people were killed and 30 injured in a powerful explosion that ripped apart a firecracker factory in Batala, Gurdaspur on September 4.

The 30 second long clip, captioned as, "Batala blast video," documents a massive explosion that takes place at a distance. The impact is so powerful that even the camera recording it shakes.

Click here for the archived link.

Fact Check

BOOM could ascertain that the video is not from Gurdaspur as images and videos of the aftermath of the blast in Punjab do not match that appearing in the video.

Towards the end of the video, the camera pans towards the city, which is does not appear to be an Indian city.

We broke the video into key frames and ran a reverse image search, with relevant keywords. We were able to find the same video by The Telegraph, which featured the footage of a huge explosion at the Carlton Hotel, Aleppo, that shook the city in May, 2014.

The description of the video states the following: "Footage purports to show moment an Aleppo hotel and several other buildings are flattened by a 'huge explosion'. A "huge explosion" in northern Syria levelled a hotel that government troops used as a military base, along with several other buildings in a government-held area, state television and activists reported on Thursday. "

The attack was also reported by the BBC with the same footage. Below is an excerpt from the story.

Rebel fighters were believed to be responsible for the blast, placing a bomb in a tunnel beneath the hotel as government troops had been based there, BBC reported citing UK based -Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.