A fire broke out on Sunday April 21 at the Ghazipur landfill, in the suburbs of New Delhi. The fire was brought under control by firefighters, but toxic smoke spread over certain areas of this city of more than 30 million inhabitants. That being said, one video particularly caught our attention. It does show a burning landfill, but these are images of an older disaster.
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Images of the end of the world. A mountain several dozen meters high in flames. A line of motorists observe the disaster. These images were widely shared on social networks earlier this week. On the social network, we found a post where it was viewed more than 10 million times.
Please note this image has been taken out of context. This video does not show the fire that occurred on April 21.
In Delhi, 27 million people, the Ghazipur landfill, which is considered the largest in India, and possibly in the world, is on fire. pic.twitter.com/PxA6rJvgJB
— S printer Factory (@Sprinterfactory) April 22, 2024
This X account managed to trace the spread of the misleading video
Please note that the account in question (@Sprinterfactory) reposted the video posted by @xinfolive as evidenced by the account logo at the top left of the video.
Xinfolive which also passed off this video as a recent video.
(2/3) pic.twitter.com/cZOHbRz9IO
— Random OSINT (@osint_random) April 24, 2024
This X account managed to trace the spread of the misleading video
Please note that the account in question (@Sprinterfactory) reposted the video posted by @xinfolive as evidenced by the account logo at the top left of the video.
Xinfolive which also passed off this video as a recent video.
(2/3) pic.twitter.com/cZOHbRz9IO
— Random OSINT (@osint_random) April 24, 2024
Checked, we found traces of a fire on this infamous landfill located in the east of the city of New Delhi. The site is so large that it is visible from space.
This being said, several elements prove that the images which were looped were not that of the waste fire of April 21. NASA’s FIRMS site confirms an abnormal heat release on the 21st. The fire is symbolized by a red square. But the symbol is small and disappears within a few hours. Referring to this site, we can conclude that this is the sign of a relatively limited fire that was brought under control fairly quickly.
Moreover, the next day, the international press is particularly concerned about the health risks of toxic smoke, but does not mention the danger that the flames could have posed to adjacent neighborhoods. Two days later, news agency photos showed piles of smoking garbage and a mountain of charred waste. The damage is less significant than suggested by the misleading video associated with alarmist comments like: “ India’s largest landfill, and perhaps the world’s largest landfill, completely engulfed in fire “. In reality, it partially burned, which certainly had consequences for the health of the inhabitants.
Unfortunately, fires regularly break out at this site or in other giant landfills in this urban monster that is New Delhi. Firefighters sometimes spend several days battling the flames. The closure of the Ghazipur site has also been mentioned on multiple occasions. Waste and gases resulting from the decomposition of materials ignite even more quickly after a period of high temperatures. like in 2022.