Viral Video of People Carrying Gas Cylinders Falsely Claimed to Be from Bangladesh – Actually from Sri Lanka in 2022
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Towards the latter part of former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s tenure, the Sri Lankan public had to endure severe economic hardships, including fuel shortages, long gas queues, and other supply chain disruptions, causing immense difficulties for the public.
Many people captured these challenges on their mobile phones, documenting the long lines and struggles for basic necessities. While these recordings were initially shared to highlight the crisis, some of these old videos are now being spread misleadingly, giving the impression that these situations are occurring in Bangladesh, a country currently undergoing an economic crisis.
Social Media Posts
A viral social media post features a video of a group of people, appearing to be members of a Muslim community, walking on a road carrying gas cylinders. The text inside the video suggests that the viral clip shows the current situation in Bangladesh, facing a gas shortageWe decided to do a fact-check on this.
Fact Check
While inspecting the viral video of a group of people carrying gas cylinders, it is evident that the language they are speaking is not Bengali (the language of Bangladesh) but Tamil.
Investigation
Location Verification: Upon analysing the video, we noticed a billboard named “Moulana Child Park, Eravur Urban Council.” This immediately raised suspicion about the video's location. Eravur is a town located in the Batticaloa District of Eastern Province, Sri Lanka.
Cross-checking with Google Maps: We used Google Maps' street view feature to ascertain this information. The exact location of "Moulana Child Park" and the corresponding billboard can be seen in Eravur, confirming that the area is indeed in Sri Lanka, not Bangladesh.
Confirmation from local journalists
We contacted Abdul Naseer, a local journalist from Eravur, who confirmed that the viral clip does not portray a recent situation in the area but corresponds to an incident in March 2022. During the crisis period in 2022, gas cylinders were exchanged in Moulana Children's Park, so the people seen in the video had people gathered to collect them.
Furthermore, we managed to contact Mohamed Azmy, a journalist from Eravur, who corroborated the above information and shared the video clip, including the scenes from the original clip he had filmed on 29th March 2022.
Context of the Incident in 2022: During the country's economic collapse, there were widespread shortages of essential goods, including cooking gas, which led to long queues and public demonstrations. People were seen walking with gas cylinders in search of supplies, which escalated to several incidents of public unrest, as seen here, and these eventually paved the way for Galle Face Protests (Aragalaya).
Current Crisis in Bangladesh:
Bangladesh has been facing a severe power crisis, including a gas shortage. With a number of factories shut down indefinitely, there is fear of an even deeper crisis in the coming days. More on this here and here.
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Conclusion
The viral video is not from Bangladesh, as claimed, but from Sri Lanka during the gas shortage in March 2022. Therefore, the video reflects a situation from Sri Lanka’s economic crisis, not a current event in Bangladesh.
