A video in which an excavator truck can be seen falling down a snow-covered road is being widely shared on social media claiming that it shows a recent truck accident that happened in Pakistan’s town Murree.
According to news reports, “Army rescuers Sunday (January 9) cleared routes around a Pakistan hill town (Murree) sheltering thousands of tourists after 22 people died in vehicles trapped by heavy snow.”
The video is shared on Facebook with a caption in the Urdu language that can be roughly translated in English to, “The crane overturned during rescue operations in Murree.”
(Original Text: مری میں امدادی کاموں کے دوران کرین الٹ گئی)
Here’s the link to the above post.
FACT CHECK
NewsMobile fact-checked the above claim and found it to be MISLEADING.
Using the InVid Tool, we extracted keyframes from the video and performed a Reverse Image Search. This search directed us to a news report published on January 7, 2020, that carried the same viral video. The headline of the article reads, “Excavator tumbles from the roadside edge while attempting to rescue car after snowfall brings dangerous conditions in Pakistan.”
Below is the comparison between the viral video and the video uploaded in January 2020.
Searching further, we found a shorter version of the video uploaded on YouTube on March 19, 2020, with the description, “Murray Accident (Murree) ll Murray news.”
Taking a cue from this, we searched further and found that many news reports have indeed reported the deadly winter storms that hit Pakistan in January 2020.
Thus, it is evident from the above information that an old video has resurfaced as a recent truck accident in Pakistan due to a snow blizzard. Therefore, the viral claim is misleading.
If you want to fact-check any story, WhatsApp it now on +91 11 7127 979l9
