Video shows the ceiling collapsed at Chongqing shopping center, not the airport
When heavy rain slammed China in early July, a video misleadingly shared a video in the post claiming it showed the roof of Chongqing’s collapsed airport. In fact, the lens shows a portion of the ceiling collapsed in a large shopping mall rather than an airport shopping mall.
“The airport roof crashes in China’s third largest industrialized city at Gold Gold (SIC).” edit title shared on X on July 9, 2025.
The clip was observed more than 3.3 million times, showing a portion of the ceiling suddenly soaking the floor in dark water. As the liquid began to spread, several people could be seen shooting and retreating.
The title adds: “China is at least 900 years ahead of India.
When China experienced an extreme weather summer, downpours swept most of the country’s south (archive link). State media reported that recent floods forced 556 people from Chongqing to evacuate and triggered a landslide in nearby Sichuan Province.
Screenshot of misleading X post captured on July 24, 2025, AFP added red X
The clip is also shared in a similar Facebook Thread and X posts.
When the video was taken in Chongqing, it did not show the large airport.
As of July 25, there were no official reports of any collapse at Chongqing’s airport.
Reverse image search on Chinese search engine Baidu using key frames from misleading shared clips resulted in the same shot posted on Weibo on July 8 by Chongqing-based Sanxiang Metropolis Daily (archive link).
“On the afternoon of July 8, some netizens reported on social platforms that the ceiling of the floor of the B1 of Chongqing Paradise Walk Shopping Center suddenly collapsed.”
Screenshot comparison of misleading shared clips on X (left) and videos posted by Sanxiang Metropolis Daily (right)
Similar clips are shared on Weibo and elsewhere on Douyin, which also say they were taken at Chongqing Shopping Mall (archived here and here).
Screenshots compare misleading shared clips (left) and similar videos posted on Weibo (right) and highlight the corresponding elements by AFP
Paradise Walk Mall said the crash was caused by a sudden heavy rain on July 8 (a link to archive). The shoppers were evacuated from the area, adding that no injuries were taken.
