Footage of India mock train crash sparks false claims about ‘fatal accident’

India has suffered a string of railway disasters over the years, but a video shared online as the aftermath of a “massive accident” in fact shows a mock train crash. The photojournalist who shot the footage confirmed it showed a practice exercise in Lucknow, the capital of the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. A spokesman for the national railway authority also said there had been no such accident in the city.

“Massive accident in the capital Lucknow at 3:00 am on 26/12/2024, lakhs (hundreds of thousands) of people have died and thousands injured,” reads Hindi-language text on an Instagram video shared on December 27.

The clip, which was viewed more than 3,000 times, shows the smouldering wreck of a train carriage piled up on a burning compartment. Rescue workers appear to be examining the wreckage and preparing to extinguish the flames.

The video made the rounds in similar posts on Facebook and Instagram, with many social media users appearing to believe it showed a genuine train crash.

“Sad news, who is to blame for this?” one commented.

Another wrote: “This is the result of government’s corruption; the common man suffers.”

India has one of the world’s largest rail networks and has seen several disasters over the years (archived link).

The worst occurred in 1981 when a train derailed while crossing a bridge in Bihar state, killing an estimated 800 people.

Nearly 300 people were killed in a three-train collision in Odisha state in June 2023, when a packed passenger train was mistakenly diverted onto a loop line and slammed into a stationary goods train loaded with iron ore.

The clip circulating online, however, shows a train accident drill for local rescue workers.

Safety drill

A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the video found the same footage posted on Instagram by Lucknow-based photojournalist Kumar Raidas on December 20 (archived link).

“Mock drill of the train accident in capital Lucknow,” reads the text on his video.

Below is a screenshot comparison of the falsely shared video (left) and Raidas’s video (right):

“This is footage of an Indian Railways rescue operation exercise which I recorded at Lucknow Railway Station on December 20,” Raidas, a photojournalist with the Times of India newspaper, told AFP on January 6, 2025.

Deepak Kumar, chief public relations officer of Northern Railway also told AFP the video showed a practice exercise.

“Northern Railway is conducting many such safety drills for the Kumbh Mela so that we are prepared for any situation,” he said on January 6.

“The video is being shared with a false claim. No such accident has taken place in Lucknow.”

News outlets Aaj Tak and Dainik Bhaskar also reported on the drill (archived here and here).

A red sign attached to one of the train carriages, visible at the beginning of the Dainik Bhaskar video report reads “Mock drill on train accident” and includes the initials of India’s National Disaster Response Force.

AFP previously debunked a similar claim that misrepresented footage from a training exercise as showing a genuine train accident in Rajasthan state.

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