Old video from Hyderabad shared as CCTV footage of Odisha train accident

By: Uzma Afreen
June 5 2023

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Context
A three-train collision on June 2, 2023, in Odisha's Balasore left at least 275 people dead and over 1,000 people injured, making it the worst train accident in a decade in India. The crash involved the Yeshwantpur-Howrah Superfast Express, and the Shalimar-Chennai Central Coromandel Express, and a stationary goods train.

Since the tragic accident, social media has been flooded with images and videos linking them to the recent incident. One such video is CCTV footage showing a collision between two running trains and people escaping from the derailed coaches. The video was shared with the caption, “The footage of the #train_accident in India has come to the fore New Delhi: 280 people died in the train accident, more than 900 were injured, Indian media.” The video was shared with the hashtag #BalasoreTrainAccident, suggesting that the visuals are of the recent mishap.

In Fact
The trains involved in the accident in Odisha — the Yeshwantpur-Howrah Express and Coromandel Express — were green and red colored, respectively. However, the train in the footage, which occupies most of the screen, is purple and white in colour, similar to local trains in several parts of the country. This was the first indication that the video was unrelated to the recent incident as it involved long-distance trains. Additionally, the CCTV footage shows a collision between two slow-running trains, whereas the accident in Odisha involved three trains, of which the goods train was stationary. 

One can also clearly see the text ‘VOA’ written on the top right-hand side of the video. VOA stands for Voice of America, a state-owned news organization in the United States. The original video was posted by VOA on its YouTube Channel on November 12, 2019. The description of the uploaded video read: “Closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage released by Indian Railways showed the moment when two trains collided head-on in India's southern city of Hyderabad, Monday, November 11. At least 16 people, including a train driver, were injured when the accident occurred Monday morning. The trapped driver was rescued after being stuck for six hours. Six coaches of a local train and three coaches of Hundry Express derailed from the tracks due to the collision impact.” 

On running a reverse image search on the video, we found several news reports from 2019 about a collision between Lingampalli-Falaknuma multi-modal transport system (MMTS) and the Kurnool-Secunderabad Hundry Intercity Express (17028) at the Kacheguda Railway station in Hyderabad. According to reports, 12 people were injured in the accident. Research showed that several news organizations in India, including The Indian Express, NDTV, and The Times of India reported on this incident. The visuals reported by these organizations are the same as those in the video that is now going viral.  

According to a report by NDTV, the train collision in 2019 occurred due to a human error by the loco pilot. A South Central Railway official had told PTI that according to a preliminary investigation, a human error was suspected of having caused the accident as the MMTS train had overshot the signal. The Lingampalli-Falaknuma multi-modal transport system (MMTS) then collided with the Kurnool-Secunderabad Hundry Intercity Express. A case was also registered against the MMTS loco pilot by the railway police under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code.

This confirms that the visuals are not from the recent train accident in Odisha but an accident in Telangana in 2019. 

The Verdict
A video from 2019 showing a collision between a local train and the Kurnool-Secunderabad Hundry Intercity-Express is being falsely shared with the claim that it shows the footage of the June 2 train accident in Odisha. Therefore, we have marked this claim false.