Old Video From Varanasi Shared as Metro Pillar Collapsing in Delhi's Najafgarh

The same video has gone viral before as that from Hyderabad and Mumbai.

A video showing several vehicles trapped under what looks like debris of a collapsed structure has gone viral on the internet.

The claim: Those sharing the video have claimed that an under-construction pillar of Delhi Metro collapsed in Delhi's Najafgarh, killing many and leaving several others injured. People also blamed Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for the tragedy.

(Archives of more such posts can be found here and here.)

The truth: The viral video is from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh where at least 18 people lost their lives after part of an under-construction flyover collapsed on 15 May 2018.

How did we find that out: We used the InVID WeVerify Google Chrome extension to extract keyframes from the viral video and conducted a reverse image search on some of them.

• While going through the search results, we came across screenshots from the video shared in a story from The Quint published in 2018.

• According to the story, a portion of an under-construction flyover collapsed in Varanasi on 15 May 2018, claiming the lives of 18 people while leaving several others injured.

• We conducted a keyword search and found other news reports about the incident corroborating the details.

What about a metro pillar collapse:

• We conducted a keyword search for Delhi Metro pillar collapse and found news reports about the part of an under-construction metro pillar collapsing in Delhi's Haiderpur Badli area.

• According to a news report in India Today, one person was seriously injured when part of the pillar fell on a car on 17 February.

Same video used to spread misinformation:

• The viral video has been used previously to spread mis/disinformation on multiple occasions.

• On 25 February 2021, the video was shared as a flyover collapse in Hyderabad and Mumbai's Thane.

• The video was also used in February 2022 to claim that the people responsible for the collapse were not held accountable.

Conclusion: It's clear that an old video has gone viral again to claim that a Delhi Metro pillar collapsed and killed several people recently.

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