A decade-old video of gas cylinder explosion shared as collision of two electric vehicles.
Claim
An incredible video, showing what can happen when two Electric Vehicles collide. Note that both sides of the freeway have been shut down and there are no fire apparatus present because, once a lithium battery ignites, it cannot be easily extinguished and the fumes are toxic.
Rating
Explanation
A video purportedly showing an explosion of vehicles on a road is shared to claim that it happened when two electric vehicles collided. The viral posts also state that “Once a lithium battery ignites, it cannot be easily extinguished and the fumes are toxic.” Some of the posts with such a claim can be seen here and here.
What can happen when two Electric Vehicles collide. Once a lithium battery ignites, it cannot be easily extinguished and the fumes are toxic.#ElonX #ElonMusk #Tesla #RIPTwitter #Formula1 pic.twitter.com/rW1mu0nUq3
— Eagle (@S0101019) July 30, 2023
What is the truth?
When reverse searching the keyframes of the viral video and with a further search using relevant keywords we found that the video is of a decade-old incident and the accident was caused by the explosion of gas cylinders and not due to the collision of two electric vehicles.
A YouTube video uploaded on 15, July 2013 is found carrying matching visuals from the viral video. The viral video starts from 2:25-minute timestamp of the Youtube video. The title of the video is roughly translated from Russian as “Explosion of a Gazelle (isuzu) and gas cylinders on the Moscow Ring Road on 07/13/2013. Explosion of a truck in Moscow”.
The description part reads: “About 18 hours at a congress of the highway on the Ring Road Enthusiasts faced regular bus and truck Isuzu, in the back of which were 119 gas cylinders – from the impact they are detonated, “- said the spokesman. The accident injured the driver of the truck. It was reported earlier that the victims of an accident there. According to preliminary information, the fire occurred after a truck collision with a passenger bus “Hyundai”. Behind the wheel of the bus was 51-year-old driver Ltd. “Avtostroy” in the cabin – 28 passengers. Fortunately, none of them was hurt.
With further search, we found another Youtube video dated 13, July 2013 showing visuals from the same incident. This video is a recording by surveillance camera of a car that travelled in the same road behind the truck that caused the accident. This video shows a truck carrying several gas cylinders that exploded after it collided with a passenger bus. Now, when we go back to view the viral video closely, we found the gas cylinders scattered on the road.
An article dated 13, July 2013 on a Russian website ‘aif’ features matching visuals from the viral video. It reported that the incident happened on the inner side of the Moscow Ring Road and it caused difficulties in the movement of vehicles. It was clarified here that it was not the Gazelle that ignited, as previously reported, but the Isuzu car. The truck driver was injured in the accident.
Conclusion
It is found that a decade old video of gas cylinder explosion in Moscow is falsely shared as collision of two electric vehicles.
