India has suffered a string of railway disasters over time, however a video shared on-line because the aftermath of a “large accident” in actual fact exhibits a mock prepare crash. The photojournalist who shot the footage confirmed it confirmed a observe train in Lucknow, the capital of the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. A spokesman for the nationwide railway authority additionally stated there had been no such accident within the metropolis.
“Huge accident within the capital Lucknow at 3:00 am on 26/12/2024, lakhs (a whole bunch of hundreds) of individuals have died and hundreds injured,” reads Hindi-language textual content on an Instagram video shared on December 27.
The clip, which was seen greater than 3,000 occasions, exhibits the smouldering wreck of a prepare carriage piled up on a burning compartment. Rescue employees seem like analyzing the wreckage and making ready to extinguish the flames.
Screenshot of the false Instagram submit, captured on January 7, 2024
The video made the rounds in comparable posts on Fb and Instagram, with many social media customers showing to consider it confirmed a real prepare crash.
“Unhappy information, who’s in charge for this?” one commented.
One other wrote: “That is the results of authorities’s corruption; the frequent man suffers.”
India has one of many world’s largest rail networks and has seen a number of disasters over time (archived hyperlink).
The worst occurred in 1981 when a prepare derailed whereas crossing a bridge in Bihar state, killing an estimated 800 folks.
Almost 300 folks had been killed in a three-train collision in Odisha state in June 2023, when a packed passenger prepare was mistakenly diverted onto a loop line and slammed right into a stationary items prepare loaded with iron ore.
The clip circulating on-line, nevertheless, exhibits a prepare accident drill for native rescue employees.
Security drill
A reverse picture search on Google utilizing keyframes from the video discovered the identical footage posted on Instagram by Lucknow-based photojournalist Kumar Raidas on December 20 (archived hyperlink).
“Mock drill of the prepare accident in capital Lucknow,” reads the textual content on his video.
Under is a screenshot comparability of the falsely shared video (left) and Raidas’s video (proper):
Screenshot comparability of the falsely shared video (left) and Raidas’s video (proper)
“That is footage of an Indian Railways rescue operation train which I recorded at Lucknow Railway Station on December 20,” Raidas, a photojournalist with the Instances of India newspaper, instructed AFP on January 6, 2025.
Deepak Kumar, chief public relations officer of Northern Railway additionally instructed AFP the video confirmed a observe train.
“Northern Railway is conducting many such security drills for the Kumbh Mela in order that we’re ready for any scenario,” he stated on January 6.
“The video is being shared with a false declare. No such accident has taken place in Lucknow.”
Information shops Aaj Tak and Dainik Bhaskar additionally reported on the drill (archived right here and right here).
A purple signal hooked up to one of many prepare carriages, seen at first of the Dainik Bhaskar video report reads “Mock drill on prepare accident” and consists of the initials of India’s Nationwide Catastrophe Response Pressure.
AFP beforehand debunked an analogous declare that misrepresented footage from a coaching train as exhibiting a real prepare accident in Rajasthan state.
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