Video of torching houses near Ijtema ground misleading: Rumor Scanner

FE Team | Published: December 21, 2024 00:14:24

Bangladesh fact-checking body Rumor Scanner called misleading the video claiming that the houses is set on fire near the Ijtema ground in Tongi, saying the viral fire incident was from Rohingya camp in last June, reports BSS.
"The old video footage of the Cox's Bazar Rohingya camp's fire has been circulated claiming that it is a scene of torching houses near the Tongi Ijtema ground which is misleading," it said, enunciating the real incident of the fire on its website on Wednesday.
The fact-checking organization in an investigation found a video of July 2 last with the caption "sudden fire in Cox's Bazar Rohingya camp" circulated by a Facebook account named MD Rabbi Khan in a Facebook group named "Our Rajshahi".
Rumor Scanner identified similarities comparing the July 2 video with recent viral video on social media which confirmed that the video of fire incident is not a recent one.
In addition, a news with video was found on the YouTube channel of mainstream media Ekattor TV, titled "Horrible fire in Rohingya camp; more than two hundred houses burned down", that broadcast on June 1 of this year.
A video was also seen being circulated on June 2 of this year, with mentioning a fire scene in the Rohingya camp in Cox's Bazar, from a Facebook account named Md Yusuf, which was found to be similar to the viral video claiming it of near Ijtema ground.
Further investigation confirmed a news report published on June 1 in the mainstream media Prothom Alo that a fire broke out in a Rohingya refugee camp in Cox's Bazar that day. The report revealed that "another fire broke out in Tanjimarkhola Refugee Camp (Camp-13) in Palangkhali Union, Ukhiya, Cox's Bazar. The fire broke out at the D-3 Block of the refugee camp around 1 pm on Saturday (June 1)".
The Rumor Scanner even did not find any connection between the audio used in the viral video and the fire incident in the Rohingya camp. It appears that the audio of a different incident has been added to this video with the help of technology.
It is mentioned that a child died in a fire in a house in the Dattapara Haji Market area of Tongi, Gazipur around 9:30 pm yesterday (December 17). Seven tin-shed rooms of the house were burnt in the fire.
Meanwhile, there were incidents of attacks and clashes between the followers of Maulana Zubair and Maulana Saad Kandhalvi over control of the Tongi Ijtema ground in Gazipur, but no fire incident was reported at that place, the fact checking body said.
It concluded that the old footage of the Cox's Bazar Rohingya camp fire has been falsified as a scene of houses being set on fire near the Tongi Ijtema ground; which is misleading.