Lighthouse Journalism saw a video widely shared on social media platforms depicting a stampede-like situation in Mahakumbh in Prayagraj. During the investigation, we found that the video was not from Prayagraj, but from Pakistan.
Claim:
FB profile Viral Celebrity shared the video on the profile.
Other users too are sharing the video with similar claims.
Investigation:
We started the investigation by running a reverse image search on the keyframes obtained from the video.
We found the video uploaded on Instagram on January 16, which was before the stampede in Mahakumbh in Prayagraj.
We also found the video uploaded on 11th January on a Facebook profile.
The caption said: Ambriakala accident afsos karak
We found another Pakistani user had uploaded the video, with the hashtag Islamabad.
When we did a keyword search with Ambriakala Pakistan, we found that the word was, ‘Ambiri Kala’.
Through this, we found the news reports about the accident in Ambiri Kala Chowk on the Indus Highway in Karak, Pakistan. The accident happened in January 2025.
Reports stated: At least 12 people were killed and 13 injured when a 22-wheeler lorry lost control and ploughed into multiple vehicles at Ambiri Kala Chowk on the Indus Highway in Karak, local authorities said on Saturday.
We also found the visuals from the viral video in a news report by Mashriq TV on YouTube.
We found that several other YouTube channels had uploaded the video on their YouTube handle.
Conclusion: A viral video showing a stampede-like situation in the ongoing Mahakumbh in Prayagraj is actually from Karak in Pakistan. The viral claim is misleading.
