By Srijit Das
Several mainstream media outlets including NDTV, India Today and Mirror Now misleadingly reported that a truck carrying firecrackers, caught fire while heading towards Uttar Pradesh's Ayodhya for the grand inauguration of the Ram temple on January 22, 2024.
BOOM found that the truck caught fire in Unnao and was on its way to Uttar Pradesh's Bahraich. We reached out to Unnao DSP Sonam Singh who confirmed that the truck was transporting firecrackers from Tamil Nadu to Uttar Pradesh's Bahraich; furthermore, the firecrackers being carried in the truck had no connection with the celebrations set to happen for the consecration ceremony of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya.
NDTV shared a video of a truck in fire and reported that the truck carrying firecrackers was en route Ayodhya ahead of the Ram temple inauguration ceremony.
An excerpt from Brut India's report reads, "The truck was transporting fireworks from Tamil Nadu to Uttar Pradesh's Ayodhya for the grand consecration on 22 January, officials said. The truck caught fire late at night in Unnao's Khargi Kheda village on 16 January."
Click here to view an archive of the report.
The videos were also shared by outlets including India Today, Business Standard, Mirror Now, Republic and Mint which published reports about the incident and claimed that the truck explosion occurred before it reached Ayodhya.
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Fact Check
BOOM first ran a Hindi keyword search on X (formerly Twitter) and came across a response from the official Unnao Police handle denying reports of the truck loaded with firecrackers heading towards Uttar Pradesh's Ayodhya.
According to the post by Unnao Police, "The fire has been completely extinguished by the police and fire brigade and there has been no loss of life. Traffic is running smoothly. The said truck was going from Tamil Nadu to Bahraich, which was loaded with fireworks, including posters of children, film artists and religious posters for shop supplies."
Click here to view the X post.
Unnao Police also corroborated the information about a truck catching fire in Unnao's Khargi Kheda via an X post. The cause of the fire is however unknown.
Click here to view the post.
For further verification, BOOM reached out to Unnao's Deputy Superintendent of Police Sonam Singh. Singh refuted the claim and said that the truck was on its way to Bahraich in Uttar Pradesh and not Ayodhya. Singh told BOOM, "The firecrackers stored in the truck were loaded from Tamil Nadu's Sivakasi and the truck was en route Bahraich. These firecrackers had nothing to do with the consecration ceremony of the Ram temple in Ayodhya."
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BOOM however could not independently verify the videos of a truck catching fire.
