Minnesota train derailment footage misrepresented amid Ohio disaster
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on February 22, 2023 at 22:16
- 4 min read
- By Bill MCCARTHY, AFP USA
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"The block before the crossing was sabotage #OhioChemicalDisaster," says one February 16, 2023 tweet sharing the video, which shows a train tipping over after making contact at low speed with an object impeding a railway crossing.
The post builds on baseless conspiracy theories alleging that the February 3 train derailment in the small Ohio village of East Palestine -- which set off a days-long fire and the release of hazardous chemicals including vinyl chloride, a colorless gas that the National Cancer Institute has deemed carcinogenic -- was planned and intentional.
But the widely viewed clip, which appears to have been filmed from inside a nearby vehicle, is not footage of the accident in Ohio.
Minnesota 2021 footage
A reverse image search revealed the same footage was featured in numerous articles from local Minnesota news organizations about an October 27, 2021 train wreck involving tankers carrying ethanol in Fairmont. Authorities from the city of Fairmont, the Minnesota State Fire Marshal and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency posted social media updates about the incident at the time.
"The video attached to the Twitter link is actually the video from the train derailment in Fairmont in October of 2021," Fairmont Police Department Chief Michael Hunter told AFP. "The video originally posted on Facebook by the person who witnessed the incident."
According to a Fairmont Police Department press release from October 27, 2021, dispatchers received reports of a train derailment in the early afternoon. Approximately eight of the train's cars had jumped the track, and four were overturned.
"It was later determined a large piece of concrete at the crossing had broken and caused the low-speed derailment as the train was just starting to move from a stopped position west of the crossing," Hunter said, adding that the impact to the area was considered minimal.
AFP received separate confirmations that the footage shows the October 27, 2021 incident in Fairmont from the Martin County Sheriff's Office, the Minnesota Department of Public Safety and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.
Union Pacific, identified in news articles as the rail operator involved in the crash, also confirmed one of its trains derailed in Fairmont on that date.
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency tweeted that leaks of ethanol were controlled by the end of the day, and that no damage to a nearby creek was detected. The witness video seen online does not show smoke or fire -- in contrast to footage of the crash in Ohio.
Google Maps Street View images of a railroad crossing situated near the county fairgrounds on North Bixby Road also confirm the video being misrepresented on social media was shot in Fairmont, Minnesota.
Ohio disaster
AFP photos and video show the Norfolk Southern train that derailed in Ohio to be different from the one in the video circulating online. Smoke can be seen around the site of the crash.
An investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board, the independent US agency tasked with investigating major transportation accidents, remains ongoing, with a preliminary report expected to be released February 23, 2023.
In a February 17 email to AFP, the agency said there are "no indications of sabotage/foul play."
AFP has debunked additional misinformation about the Ohio train derailment, including here and here.
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