At Ruptly, a major aspect of our work is being live and on the ground when a story breaks. We aim to be there whenever there is breaking news to bring rolling live coverage to our clients. In 2020 we were at 2636 events and 2021 was no different – we have attended 2649 events, and counting.
Here are some of the unmissable news items and live events from this year you need to be aware of, and that we covered, live:
Migrants at the Belarusian border
A week before any other agency we provided live footage of thousands of migrants blocked from crossing the Belarus-Poland border. The crisis continued for almost two weeks with migrants stranded in makeshift camps, without access to food or water and with Polish and Belarusian troops flanking them on either side. The mood was tense and Ruptly was live every day from the border crossing point at Bruzhgi, Belarus. We also continued our live coverage from the camps that the migrants built before they were moved on after their attempts to cross into Poland.
Navalny leaves Germany for Russia
After the Federal Penitentiary Service formally requested his detention for breaching the terms of his suspended prison sentence the leader of Russia’s opposition, Alexei Navalny, left for Russia. We secured several camera positions at Berlin Brandenburg airport allowing us to uniquely capture his plane’s departure, as well as important images of him inside the plane en-route to Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport, where he was detained by the police on arrival.
Wildfires in Greece and Turkey
In July and August devastating wildfires tore through parts of Greece and Turkey. We were able to capture visceral images of the events as they unfolded. We captured live footage from the closest possible view across several locations including, Evia near Athens, Marmaris and Mugla province in Turkey.
Coup in Khartoum, Sudan
On 25th October we were the first and only agency able to establish live video positions as the coup d’etat unfolded in Sudan. We were planning to show aerial views but our team managed to secure cameras at street level, allowing us to capture the arresting footage of army personnel chasing and beating civilians as events unfolded.
Cumbre Vieja eruption in Spain
Ruptly produced dozens of hours of images live from the eruption of Cumbre Vieja in Spain’s La Palma. We sent over teams from Madrid and Berlin to capture the best live footage possible. Many others stuck to aerial shots of the volcano but we were able to self-produce unique lives of the toxic gas that was emitted as the river of lava came into contact with the ocean.
By Olga Lozovic, Head of Live Desk