Freak Accident Due To Delhi Smog Resurfaces As Mumbai-Pune Expressway

A video of a freak road accident that occurred in New Delhi-NCR region has resurfaced with claims that it is from the Mumbai-Pune Expressway.

In the video multiple vehicles can be seen coming in full speed and colliding with each other because of almost zero visibility, created by smog. The claim with the video urges netizens to be alert while driving through the Lonavla stretch of the Mumbai-Pune Expressway.

It has been captioned as, "Mumbai-Pune express Highway after toll naka...all be careful when crossing Lonavala sector..too much fog and mist..watch till end."

Click here for the tweet and here for the archive.

The same video is doing the rounds on Facebook, where it has been misidentified as an incident from the Lonavla area of Maharashtra. Lonavla is a hill station located between Mumbai and Pune.

Fact Check

BOOM was able to ascertain that the video is old. In fact, multiple netizens called out users for sharing the video.

We ran a reverse image search on its key frames and were directed to the same video that was viral in 2017. News reports suggested that the incident happened in the Yamuna Expressway in November, 2017.

A report by India Today about the same incident mentioned that around 18 cars rammed into each other due to low visibility caused by the smog. An excerpt from the report stated, "Eighteen cars rammed into each other on the Agra-Noida Yamuna Expressway due to low visibility. Speeding cars rammed into one another, while people on the footpath were shouting and requesting the drivers to slow down."

The news article also has a longer version of the same video towards the end.

Furthermore, the low visibility caused due to the smog in the viral video makes it clear that it is from North India and not anywhere near Mumbai. The growing smog due to stubble burning in Northern part India post Diwali has reached hazardous levels in the capital.

BOOM also checked the IMD website for the weather details of Lonavla and found that the nearby region (Pune-Shivajinagar) had not recorded traces of smog in the past few days.