Video Showing a Blast Due to Firecrackers Falsely Linked to Electric Scooters

The blast was caused when the firecrackers that were being carried by a father and son duo exploded.

Fact-Check | A video showing a blast caused by firecrackers in Tamil Nadu has been shared with a false claim. 

(Photo: The Quint)

A video showing a two-wheeler bursting into flames has been shared by several social media users with a claim that the vehicle was an electric scooter that caught fire.

However, we found that the blast took place when the firecrackers that were being carried by a father and son duo exploded in Tamil Nadu's Viluppuram. According to news reports on the incident, the child was holding the firecrackers tightly, and friction and pressure could have led to the explosion.

We also spoke with Viluppuram SP Dr N Shreenatha who dismissed the claim and said that the blast took place because of the firecrackers.

CLAIM

Those who shared the viral video, said, "बैटरी चार्जर वाली स्कूटी का हादसा".

[Translation: Accident on a battery-charged scooter].

An archive of the post can be found here. 

(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)

The same caption was used by several other users on Twitter and Facebook, archives of which can be found here, here and here.

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

Using the PTC news logo and the date stamp in the video, we tried to look for the original video and found the clip posted on PTC News' Facebook page on 6 November 2021.

A link to the post can be found here.

(Photo: Facebook/Screenshot)

The caption when translated from Punjabi to English using Google Translate said, "Horrific death of father and son brought by firecrackers, huge explosion."

Taking a cue from that we conducted a keyword search to look for more details about the incident and found several news reports about the same.

According to a report in the NDTV, a man and his son died after country-made firecrackers they were carrying exploded in Tamil Nadu's Villupuram district.

"The boy was seated on two bundles of firecrackers kept tightly tied in the front of the two-wheeler. We believe that friction and pressure led to the explosion," an investigating officer told NDTV.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Villupuram SP N Shreenatha, who visited the spot, said that 37-year-old Kalainesan was carrying two bags of “Naattu Pattasu” (country crackers), which exploded due to friction. Three others were also injured in the incident.

We reached out to Shreenatha who dismissed the claim that the accident was caused due to an electric vehicle and said that the firecrackers were the reason for the blast.

Clearly the claim that the blast was caused by the electric scooter is false.

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