A video has been viewed more than 50,000 times in Facebook and YouTube posts which claim it shows an electric bus exploding in mainland China. The claim is false; the video actually shows two buses on fire in Santiago, Chile during violent protests in October 2019.
The video was published here on Facebook on October 20, 2019, where it has been viewed 52,000 times.
Below is a screenshot of the misleading Facebook post:
The 17-second video shows an aerial view of at least two buses on fire in a residential street.
The post’s traditional Chinese-language caption translates to English as: “Huge electric bus explosion in mainland China”.
The video was also published here on YouTube with a similar claim.
The claim is false; the video was filmed in Santiago, Chile during violent protests in October 2019.
The same video was published here on Facebook on October 19, 2019.
The Spanish language caption translates to English as: “Today Saturday / At the Diagonal / Paraguay / Santiago Centro / Chile / Violentistan burns 6 buses at once! / Chaos in Santiago / 4”.
Below is a screenshot comparison of the video in the misleading posts (L) and the Facebook post (R):
A keyword search found this video published on October 19, 2019 by Chilean television channel 24 Horas.
The video’s Spanish-language headline translates to English as: “Transantiago buses are burned and explosions are registered in downtown Santiago."
The video’s caption translates to English as: “The emergency has generated the emanation of a large amount of smoke, which has affected the surrounding buildings of Avenida Diagonal Paraguay.”
The video, filmed from the ground, shows a similar scene to the one in the misleading posts.
Below are three sets of comparison images taken from the misleading video (L) and the 24 Horas footage (R), with corresponding details circled by AFP:
The video in the misleading posts directly corresponds with Google Street View images of Diagonal Paraguay, Santiago here on Google Maps.
The map is embedded below:
AFP reported on the violent protests in Santiago on October 19 in this report published on October 20.
Below is a screenshot of the report which shows a photo of buses that correspond with those seen in the misleading posts: