Fact Check: Balasore tragedy video goes viral as recent train accident in Pakistan

By Jyoti Dwivedi: At least 30 people lost their lives and 100 were injured after the Hazara Express derailed in Southern Pakistan on August 6. In its aftermath, aerial footage allegedly showing this train accident has gone viral on social media. In the video, one can see derailed bogies and hundreds of people surrounding the train.

A Twitter user sharing the video wrote, “At least 30 were killed and over 80 injured after as many as 10 bogies of Havelian bound Hazara Express derailed today near Sahara railway station in Sindh's Nawabshah district, 275 kilometres away from Karachi.” Its archive can be seen here.

India Today found that the viral video is not from Pakistan at all — it shows the devastating June 2023 train accident in Odisha’s Balasore.

Our probe

We noticed that many people responding to the viral tweet claimed that it showed the train accident in Balasore, Odisha. We also observed the logo of “Odisha TV” in the top right corner of the video.

Using this clue, we found that Odisha TV shared this video on YouTube on June 3, 2023. Its description stated that it was an aerial view of the Balasore train tragedy site in Odisha.

Similar aerial visuals of the Odisha train accident were used in reports published by The Economic Times, ANI, and The Independent.

A triple train accident in Odisha’s Balasore district on June 2 claimed more than 290 lives. According to the media reports, the Ministry of Railways later said that a signalling error caused this accident.

Actual visuals of the recent train accident in Pakistan can be seen here.

Thus, it’s clear that the viral clip has nothing to do with the Pakistan train accident.