Heavy rains in southwest China caused a roof collapse at the Paradise Walk shopping centre in Chongqing on July 8, 2025. A video of the incident was widely misidentified online as footage of an airport roof collapsing. The misleading claims gained traction, with one post on X, which garnered over 3.3 million views, incorrectly stating, “Airport roof crashed down in Chongquing, China’s 3rd largest industrialized city.”
The clip captured a section of ceiling suddenly giving way, releasing dark water onto the floor below. Bystanders can be seen backing away as the water spreads. The post also maliciously referenced comments made by Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi, who had previously stated that “China is 10 years ahead” of India, making the false narrative even more provocative.
As China faced a summer marked by extreme weather, reports indicated that this particular deluge led to the evacuation of 556 people in Chongqing and triggered a landslide in the nearby Sichuan Province. The video circulated across multiple social media platforms, including Facebook and Threads, all falsely asserting it depicted an airport incident.
According to a reverse image search conducted on the Chinese search engine Baidu, the original footage was first published by the Sanxiang Metropolis Daily on Weibo on July 8. This source clarified that the collapse occurred on the B1 floor of the Paradise Walk shopping centre. The shopping centre later confirmed the incident via its official Weibo account, attributing the collapse to the sudden heavy rainfall on that date. Fortunately, the centre reported that there were no injuries and that shoppers were promptly evacuated from the affected area.
As of July 25, 2025, there have been no verified reports of any roof collapses at airports in Chongqing. The dissemination of false information in the aftermath of weather-related incidents underscores the need for accurate reporting, particularly in a time when extreme weather events are increasingly common.
