Original article (in Bosnian) was published on 16/8/2024; Author: Amar Karađuz
A video of thick smoke falsely claimed to show a fire at a “NATO weapons storage facility” in Bulgaria has gone viral on social media.
On July 30, 2024, the Telegram channel of Nulta tacka published two videos showing a thick cloud of smoke. In the description of the post, it is claimed that the footage shows a fire in a “NATO weapons warehouse” in Bulgaria.
Bulgaria – NATO warehouses are on fire
As some channels reported, this morning NATO weapons warehouses were burning in Bulgaria.
One of these two videos, featuring identical claims, was also shared on Facebook and Instagram.
They report from the scene that NATO weapons warehouses are burning in Bulgaria. Secondary explosions have not stopped since this morning.
What are the facts?
Using a Google search of keywords from the analyzed posts, we were unable to find verified information that a fire broke out in one of the military warehouses in Bulgaria in the last 30 days
However, in the search results, we found news about a fire in a warehouse of fireworks and pyrotechnics that broke out on July 25, 2024 in Elin Pelin (between the town of Elin Pelin and Elin Pelin station), near the capital of Bulgaria, Sofia. We checked whether the video circulating on social networks actually shows a fire in that warehouse in Bulgaria.
With the help of displaying the location of Elin Pelin on Google maps, as well as the location of the pyrotechnics warehouse, we identified all the directions from which the footage from social networks could have been taken. Based on clues from the footage, it could be assumed that it was created in the vicinity of a logistics center located near the town of Elin Pelin.
Thanks to Google’s street view and visual landmarks from the original footage, such as a power line pole, a sidewalk and a blue (residential) container, we were able to establish that the video was taken on the sidewalk next to the central warehouse of the auto parts company Inter Cars Bulgaria (link, link).
The rendering of the street dates from September 2022 and does not show the bush seen in the video. The place where the smoke is coming from in the video corresponds to the location of the pyrotechnics warehouse in relation to the Inter Cars Bulgaria warehouse.
Therefore, it can be concluded that the footage does not show any fire in a military ammunition warehouse in Bulgaria, as claimed on social media, but a fire in a fireworks and pyrotechnics warehouse in Elin Pelin.
On August 15, the District Prosecutor’s Office of Sofia published information regarding the investigation that was conducted at the scene of the fire. Despite the absence of definitive conclusions, the Prosecutor’s Office said that none of the possible causes (accidental event, negligence or illegal action) has been ruled out. Four people died in the fire. The warehouse of pyrotechnics is owned by Enigma Fireworks.
Given all the above, we evaluate the earliest publication of a video showing a fire in a warehouse of fireworks and pyrotechnics claiming that it was a weapon warehouse in Bulgaria as fake news. We evaluate other posts as a distribution of fake news.
