Old video spreads, claiming BNP supporters set fire to a bus over the denial of nomination
A video has spread on Facebook claiming that supporters of Aslam Chowdhury, who was denied nomination from the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), set fire to a bus on the Dhaka-Chattogram highway in Sitakunda. However, Dismislab’s fact-check found that the video is originally from a bus fire incident in Rupganj, Narayanganj, on October 8, 2023.
A Facebook page named Bangladesh Awami League posted the video. The caption read, “Supporters of BNP’s nomination-deprived Aslam Chowdhury have set fire to a Sohag Paribahan bus in the Sitakunda area of the Dhaka-Chattogram highway. ❗👉 Arson terrorism has returned to the country once again.” The same video with the same claim was also shared by several personal profiles (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6), pages (1, 2), and groups (1, 2, 3) on Facebook.
In the 18-second video, a pink bus named Shohagh is seen burning. Several bystanders are recording the scene on their phones.
To verify the video’s source, Dismislab conducted a reverse image search and found a YouTube Shorts video of Somoy TV. The Shorts, published on October 8, 2023, was titled, “A bus suddenly caught fire #narayanganj #bus #shorts.” The first 18 seconds of that 32-second video exactly match the video being spread with a false claim.
Keyword searches for further verification using “Narayanganj,” “Rupganj,” “bus,” and “fire” returned several news reports (1, 2, 3, 4) published in different media outlets. According to a report by Somoy TV published on October 8, 2023, “A moving bus suddenly caught fire in Rupganj, Narayanganj. Although no one was burned in the fire, at least 10 passengers were injured while rushing to get off the bus in panic. On receiving the news, Rupganj police and the local fire service went to the spot and started investigating the cause of the fire. Initially, they suspected that the fire started from the electric wiring or some part of the bus.”
The report also quoted Sub-Inspector (SI) Abdul Karim of Rupganj Police Station, who said that although the burned bus was recovered, the cause of the fire was still unknown. He added that an investigation was underway to confirm the source of the fire.
The burning bus shown in the circulating video exactly matches the bus seen in the photo used in the news report. This means the video being spread with the claim that BNP supporters set fire to a Sohag Paribahan bus over the denial of nomination of a certain candidate is from a different bus fire incident in Narayanganj two years earlier.
Notably, on November 3, the BNP announced its preliminary list of candidates for 237 constituencies ahead of the upcoming national election. Among them, party chairperson Khaleda Zia was nominated for three constituencies, and acting chairman Tarique Rahman for one.
According to several news reports (1, 2, 3), after the list was published, supporters of those denied nominations held protests in various parts of the country. Although there have been reports of party activists burning tires on the road in protest, no reports of setting fire to any bus have been found so far. Earlier, Dismislab published a fact-check report on the false claim that BNP activists set fire to a train after being denied nominations.
