An image showing a huge plume of smoke rising from the midst of a metropolitan city is making waves on social media platform X. Several users are sharing this image and claiming that a huge explosion occurred at largest weapons factory in the United States and reported of a large number of deaths and injuries.

An account with the username @alhdaabwsryh1 posted this image and wrote: “A huge explosion rocks the largest weapons factory in the United States and reports of a large number of deaths and injuries” (Translated from Arabic)

Furthermore, several other users shared this image and made similar claims .

Fact-Check

To investigate the viral image, the dfrac team reverse-searched it using google lens and found some reports from Lokmattimes & Sputnik news agency published in March 2024 featuring the same image. The image depicted the smoke rising from a fire after the terrorist attack on crocus city mall that claimed more than 60 lives and left 115 injured.

For the further investigation, we did a keyword search regarding the claim made through the viral image and found some recently published reports from media outlet ABC news & Arkansas Advocate. As per reports,  only two injured and one missing in the recent explosion incident at a defense weapons plant in Arkansas.

Conclusion

It is evident from DFRAC ‘s fact-check that viral image has been misleadingly shared on X. Originally, the image was from Moscow’s Crocus City Hall mishap that took place in March 2024. Apart from this, no large number of deaths have been reported in the latest Arkansas’s defense weapons plant explosion incident.

Therefore, the claim made by social media users is false.

Analysis: Misleading