In May 2024, footage of a fire broke out at Pakistan’s busy Lahore airport was misshapen online, allegedly caused by troops that installed missile systems. Authorities in South Asian countries say the claims of the recent fires are incorrect.
“Alama Iqbal International Airport Lahore, Pakistan Lahore is burning, and a series of air defense systems exploded during the installation process,” a Facebook post on April 26, 2025 read.
It went on to say: “All services were suspended at Lahore Airport and in Pakistan’s military.”
It also shared a video showing a building filled with smoke when the crowd looked at the smoke, with the Bangladeshi writing largely repeating false claims.
Screenshot of False Facebook post, captured on June 3, 2025
On April 22, the gunman killed 26 people, who killed 26 people in the attack on Kashmir by tourists in Pahalgam, India, and New Delhi blamed it on its neighbors. Islamabad denies the allegations (archive link).
Four days of intense fighting broke out between nuclear-weapon enemies in May, with more than 70 lives on both sides before they agreed to a ceasefire for the U.S. agent (archive link).
Fake posts are shared elsewhere on Facebook, and some of the users believe the claim is correct.
Commented: “This only applies to airports and will soon be suitable for Pakistan as a whole.”
Another commented: “Do well done and let it spread all over Pakistan now.”
But a reverse image search on Google using KeyFrames shows that the video was uploaded to YouTube on May 9, 2024 (Archive Link).
“There was a fire at Lahore Airport,” the video caption read. “The investigation shows that the short circuit was the cause of the fire.”
Comparison of screenshots of fake posts (L) and YouTube videos
Further searches found that the smoke column next to the sign in the fake clip can also be seen in the mark in the 14th second, a video report about Pakistan’s export AAJ TV released on the same day (link to archive).
Comparing screenshots of fake videos (L) and AAJ TV reports, AFP highlights the same smoke.
Other Pakistani media at the time also reported the fire, saying the fire was blamed on the fire (archived here and here).
Pakistan’s state-owned Associated Press (APP) reported on April 26, 2025 that Pakistan’s airport authorities said no fire occurred and rejected the claim as “unfounded, false and misleading” (archived link).
After the Kashmir attack here and here, AFP has debunked the spread of misinformation.
