Fact Check

By Reuters Fact Check

3 Min Read

A clip of a 2014 explosion at a gas station in Russia has been edited to make it appear as if a light beam was responsible for the fire.

The clip began circulating online with text printed across it that reads, “Red laser beam attack?”

Some users shared the clip online with claims that it showed a Direct Energy Weapon (DEW) in action. The Office of Naval Research says DEWs are “electromagnetic systems” that can direct energy toward a specific target (here).

Reuters has fact-checked multiple false claims of lasers or DEWs being responsible for catastrophic events (here), (here).

An example of the clip can be seen (here), archived (here).

The earliest iteration Reuters could find of the unedited video was uploaded by a Russian news agency RIA Dagestan on Aug. 9, 2014 (timestamp 1:10) (youtu.be/-zvo7xXs-T0?t=72).

The explosion was caused by a gas leak in the city of Makhachkala in Russia’s Republic of Dagestan, an RIA Dagestan report said (here).

Reuters located the video to Prospekt Imama Shamilya, Makhachkala – the same location listed in the RIA Dagestan report (bit.ly/3saxAtT).

Reuters traced the edited video to an Instagram account published on Aug. 4 (here). Based on the description of the account, the individual that runs it is a video creator. They did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.

False. The video has been online since at least August 2014 where no such beam can be seen before the explosion.

This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work (here).  

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.