A video showing fire engulfing a bridge is going viral on the internet, with users claiming that it shows recent visuals of the Iron Bridge in Rome burning and collapsing.
What do social media posts say?: While some users have shared the visuals as incident, others have underlined that this is the second bridge to collapse in a week. This refers to the tragic collapse of Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, United States.
An archive of the post can be found here.
(Source: X (formerly Twitter)/Screenshot)
Is the video recent?: No, the video could be traced back to at least October 2021 and is not recent as claimed.
According to news reports published at that time, a massive figure had severely damaged the bridge and resulted in its parts to plunge into the river Tiber in Italy,
How did we find that out?: A Google Lens search on the keyframes of the video directed us to the same clip uploaded on an X handle.
It was shared on 4 September 2023, and its caption when translated to English said, "BREAKING – The “Iron Bridge” in Rome, Italy, burned and collapsed yesterday afternoon."
This immediately proved that the video is old and not recent as claimed.
Taking this further, we performed an advanced keyword search on X and found that several users had shared this video in October 2021 with the same caption.
News reports: A report published in October 2021 by Reuters said that a huge fire broke out and severely damaged the Rome's "Iron Bridge, which resulted in parts of the 19th century structure to collapse.
The bridge was opened in 1863 and was formally known as Ponte dell' Industria (Industry Bridge).
According to the officials, no injuries were reported due to the fire.
Conclusion: It is clear that an old video is being shared as recent visuals of the Iron Bridge in Rome collapsing due to a fire.
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