Video of a fire at Chattogram airport is actually footage from a drill
A video is being circulated claiming that a fire broke out at Chattogram’s Shah Amanat Airport and that the cargo village was saved by a narrow margin. But fact-check shows the video is from a fire drill held to test the effectiveness and capability of the airport’s firefighting personnel, vehicles, and equipment.
The video was posted from a personal Facebook profile, with the caption, “A fire at Chattogram Shah Amanat Airport, the cargo village barely escaped.” Several personal Facebook profiles (1, 2) also posted the same video and commented in support of the claim.
In the 23-second video, a fire is seen burning at a spot, and firefighters are extinguishing it. Fire service vehicles, hoses, and other equipment are visible. The Somoy TV logo appears at the bottom left of the video. In the audio, someone says, “A fire is blazing next to the cargo village. In just two minutes, the airport’s own three units and one unit of the Air Force Fire Service brought it under control. Relief returns to the airport.”
Keyframe searches found the same footage in a video report published on Somoy TV’s YouTube channel on December 3. The caption of the video says, “Symbolic fire at Shah Amanat Airport, drill on extinguishing it.” The first 23 seconds of the 2-minute 2-second video match the circulated video exactly. The audio also matches. However, in the original report, the reporter also says, “But this is a symbolic fire. A special drill to prevent fire accidents took place at Chattogram Shah Amanat Airport.”
Multiple other video reports (1, 2, 3) from various news outlets on YouTube also show the fire extinguishing drill at the airport.
Further keyword searches found multiple news reports (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) covering the event. A report published on December 3 in the daily Desh Rupantor was titled, “Firefighting drill at Shah Amanat Airport in Chattogram.”
The report states that a medium-scale firefighting drill was held near the airport’s cargo warehouse area to test the effectiveness and capability of the airport’s personnel, vehicles, and equipment. The drill took place around 11:15 a.m. on December 3. The airport’s fire unit, AvSec, APBn, Bangladesh Air Force, Navy, Fire Service and Civil Defence, the airport’s medical team, and other stakeholders participated. The information was confirmed by the airport’s spokesperson, Engineer Mohammad Ibrahim Khalil.
So, the circulated video is not real footage of a fire at Shah Amanat Airport; it is from a drill. Notably, on October 18 this year, a major fire broke out in the cargo village complex of Dhaka’s Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport. At that time, videos from other countries were falsely shared as scenes from Shahjalal Airport, and Dismislab published fact check reports on that incident.
Disclaimer: The original version of this fact-check report was published in Bengali on Dismislab’s Bengali website on December 4, 2025. The English translation was completed later; however, to maintain time accuracy and avoid any potential misinterpretation, the English version has been published with the original publication date.
