2021 video from Russia shared as recent explosion in Azerbaijan

By: Rajeswari Parasa
October 4 2023

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Screenshot of the viral claims (Source: X/ScreenshotModified by Logically Facts.)

Context

Twenty people were killed and hundreds injured in an explosion at a fuel depot in Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh region on September 25, 2023. Following this, videos purportedly of the incident began circulating on social media. One such video was shared on X (archive here) with the caption: “JUST IN: Footage of the explosion in Stepanakert.” Archive links of similar posts can be found here, here, and here.

Screenshot of the viral claim (Source: X/ScreenshotModified by Logically Facts.)

However, this video is not from Azerbaijan but was taken in Russia in 2021.

What are the facts?

A reverse image search of keyframes from the video showed us that this video has been online since 2021. We found a video uploaded to the YouTube channel Actual Public Freakout on July 6, 2021, titled "Gas station explosion in Novosibirsk, Russia.” We can see the video that is now viral from 00.16 seconds in the 2021 video. The same grey building is visible in the right corner of both videos. 

The video was also uploaded to another YouTube channel named Cobrapost with the title, “WATCH: Massive explosion at gas station in Novosibirsk, Russia; at least 26 injured,” uploaded on June 15, 2021.

Comparison between the 2021 video and the recent viral video (Source: X/YouTube/Screenshot)

A Moscow Times report dated June 15, 2021, states that 33 people were injured in a fuel tank explosion at a gas station in Russia’s Novosibirsk. The outlet attributed this information to RIA Novosti, a state-run news agency in Russia. Russian news agency TASS also reported on this incident in June 2021, stating that a gas leak while a tanker was unloading fuel may have caused the explosion. 

The verdict

An old video from a 2021 incident in Russia is now circulating as recent footage from Azerbaijan. News reports confirm that the viral video was originally taken during an incident in Novosibirsk, Russia, in 2021, and not in Azerbaijan in 2023. Therefore, we have rated this claim as false.