India’s creaking rail community has seen a string of disasters through the years however dramatic footage of a prepare pile-up was not filmed within the nation’s southern Chennai megacity in December 2024, opposite to rumours on Fb and Instagram. The incident described within the posts was made-up, Indian authorities informed AFP, and the video in truth confirmed a lethal crash in Chile in June 2024.
“Vande Bharat prepare met with accident,” learn a Hindi-language Fb submit that shared the video on January 1, referring to the state-operated multi-city rail service.
The footage exhibits a dramatic prepare pile-up, with one carriage wedged atop one other compartment.
Hindi textual content overlaid on the clip says: “Vande Bharat Specific met with an accident in Chennai on December 29, 2024, at 2 AM.”
Screenshot of the false submit taken on January 5, 2025
The video made the rounds in related posts on Instagram and Fb.
India has one of many world’s largest rail networks and has seen a number of disasters through the years (archived hyperlink).
The worst occurred in 1981 when a prepare derailed whereas crossing a bridge in Bihar state, killing an estimated 800 individuals.
Almost 300 individuals have 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 circulating posts, nevertheless, have been baseless in response to India’s rail authority.
“The Vande Bharat prepare has by no means met with an accident in Chennai,” a spokesman for Southern Railway informed AFP on January 15. “That is utterly false information.”
Chile catastrophe
A reverse picture search of the video on Google discovered related footage in a report a few prepare collision in Chile.
AFP posted the clip on June 20 in a YouTube video titled: “Railway collision in Chile kills two individuals” (archived hyperlink).
Under is a screenshot comparability of the video shared in false social media posts (left) and AFP’s video (proper).
Screenshot comparability of the video shared in false social media posts (left) and AFP’s video (proper)
Two individuals died and 9 have been injured within the head-on collision between a freight prepare and an empty locomotive finishing up take a look at runs on the outskirts of the capital Santiago, AFP reported(archived hyperlink).
The collision claimed the lives of the freight prepare’s driver and his assistant.
The freight prepare is owned by the non-public Pacific Railways (Fepasa) firm whereas the locomotive belonged to the state railway firm EFE, the report added.
The Fepasa brand is clearly seen at the 36-second mark of the AFP video, as proven within the screenshot under:
