Official claims by the Venezuelan authorities that the two explosions that interrupted a speech by President Maduro of Venezuela in Caracas on August 4th, celebrating the 81st anniversary of the National Guard, was a drone-borne IED (DBIED) attack, have been cast into doubt by the absence of any images or video footage of the drones in question.
Indeed firefighters speaking on condition of anonymity said the explosions were caused by a propane tank inside an apartment. Images of a fire in a flat and an initial lack of images or videos showing any drones appeared to support the firefighter’s version of events.
Now research by the investigative website Bellingcat has unearthed footage of a drone falling out the sky next to the apartment which would later catch fire, and another of a drone exploding with force in mid-air, which appear to support the Venezuelan government’s version of events.
The video shows a drone with six rotors apparently losing control and falling to the ground. No explosion is seen or heard. Vitally however, it is possible to geolocate this video to the same location as the fire in the apartment, which firefighters had claimed was caused by a gas canister explosion. Images taken of this location during the fire also show a hole in the wall of the apartment in the vicinity of where the drone would have crashed.
Courtesy of @isaA740919
These images show that this drone crashed at the same location at which a fire was reported. A distinct and neat hole in the wall of the apartment that caught fire is also visible.
Courtesy of José Gavira
It is a very likely possibility that the downed drone subsequently detonated, creating the hole in the wall of this apartment, igniting a fire.
Bellingcat has also assembled a video which shows two videos of the stage three videos synched together with that of the exploding drone:
Bellingcat draws the following conclusion:
From the open sources of information available, it appears that an attack took place using two DBIEDs while Maduro was giving a speech. Both the drones appear visually similar to DJI Matrice 600s, with at least one displaying features that are consistent with this model. These drones appear to have been loaded with explosive and flown towards the parade.
The first drone detonated somewhere above or near the parade, the most likely cause of the casualties announced by the Venezuelan government and pictured on social media. The second drone crashed and exploded approximately 14 seconds later and 400 meters away from the stage, and is the most likely cause of the fire which the Venezuelan firefighters described.
For the full detailed analysis, see: Did Drones Attack Maduro in Caracas? / Bellingcat