Video of Deadly Fire in Dhaka Tower Falsely Shared As Mumbai Mall

The fire is not from the Raheja building behind the Infinity mall in Mumbai’s Andheri, but from Dhaka’s Banani area.

CLAIM

A video of a burning building surrounded by an anxious crowd and fire tenders is viral on social media with the claim that it from Mumbai.

The video, viral on Facebook, is being shared with the claim saying: "Fire at Raheja, behind infinity mall, Andheri. See how residents r given rope for rescue. How can anybody use this rope without training n that too in panic situations like this. Wah re fire department."

Fire at Raheja, behind infinity mall, Andheri. See how residents r given rope for rescue. How can anybody use this rope without training n that too in panic situations like this. Wah re fire department

Posted by Farooq Tai on Tuesday, April 16, 2019

The Quint also received a tip off regarding the video on its WhatsApp helpline.

TRUE OR FALSE

Upon breaking the video into multiple key frames using the InVid software, and subsequently conducting a reverse image search, we realised that the incident is not from Mumbai, but from Dhaka.

A reverse image search of one of the key frames on Yandex led us to several Bangla news websites, which claimed that the fire was from the FT tower in Dhaka's Banani area.

A generic search on Google with the keyframe and the keywords ‘FT Tower in Banani’ led us to several news articles on the incident.

We also found the same video, which is now viral, on YouTube, uploaded by one ‘Hafsa Era999’ on 28 March, titled ‘Banani fr tower fire’.

According to a PTI report, at least 19 persons were killed after the fire broke out in the 22-storey building in Dhaka on 28 March.

Of the 19 deceased, at least six died while jumping off from various floors in an attempt to escape the fire, local police told the news agency.

The FT Tower fire is the latest in a series of blazes that have hit the Bangladeshi capital in the recent past.

In February, at least 70 people were killed and over 50 injured when a fast-moving fire swept through an apartment buildings and chemical warehouses in Dhaka's congested Chawkbazar area.

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