Claim: A video showing massive smoke billowing over an area engulfed by fire, from the recent hijacking of the Jaffar Express train by the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) in Pakistan.
Fact: This is false. The viral video actually shows an incident of fire in Karachi and is not related to the recent BLA train hijacking.
A fifty-second video showing a massive blaze and billowing smoke, is going viral on social media with users claiming it to be from the recent hijacking of the Jaffar Express train by the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) in Pakistan.
A TikTok account named “The Uncensored Pak” posted the video with an English text that read, “Video Footage of the Jaffar Express Incident.”
Sharing the same video on Instagram, a page called “LocalTak” wrote, “Pakistan Train Hijack: A Grim Reminder of Rising Insurgency.”
Another Facebook page shared this video with a caption saying, “#Train Hijacked. After 6 hours of hijacking the Jaffar Express train in Balochistan, 20 Pakistani military personnel eliminated, and 182 hostages remain in the custody of BLA.”
We also noticed that this video is widely shared across all social media platforms, including YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, X, and Facebook. The posts can be seen here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.
Pakistan Train Hijack Incident
The Pakistani separatist group Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) attacked and hijacked the Jaffar Express passenger train, carrying hundreds of passengers, in Pakistan’s southwestern province of Balochistan. The train was traveling from Quetta to Peshawar on March 11, 2025.
Factcheck / Verification
Based on our initial keyword research, we found news reports stating that the incident took place near the mountainous areas of Gudalar and Piru Kunri, about 160 km away from Quetta. However, the visuals in the viral video clearly show an open space. The news reports can be seen here and here.
Upon further research, we analyzed key frames of the viral video using reverse image search and found a similar video posted by the YouTube channel @ShuaibjaanKhaskhali-q5 on March 10, 2025, with the caption “Blaze near Chakar Hotel.” After comparing the keyframes of the viral clip with the YouTube video, we confirmed that both showed the same incident.
We also found an Instagram post by Geo News, dated March 10, 2025, featuring the same video with the caption, “A fire broke out near the Mir Chakar area in Karachi’s Gulshan-e-Maymar on Monday. The cause of the blaze remains unknown.”
Another news video report by News 247 Urdu shows similar visuals of a fire, with the caption, “Horrible fire broke out at Karachi Superhighway Sabzi Mandi.”
To further confirm the location, we conducted additional keyword research, which led us to Pakistan-based news reports about a fire that broke out near Karachi’s Chakar Hotel on the Superhighway on Monday, March 10, 2025. The news reports can be seen here, here, here and here.
Conclusion
The viral video claiming to show the recent hijacking of the Jaffar Express train by the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) in Pakistan is false. The video actually shows a fire incident that occurred recently in Karachi, not the BLA train hijacking.
Result: False
Our Sources
News report from Aljazeera, dated March 12, 2025.
News report from News18, dated March 12, 2025.
News report from DAWN E-paper, dated March 11, 2025.
News report from The Express Tribune, dated March 11, 2025.
YouTube video posted by @ShuaibjaanKhaskhali-q5, dated March 10, 2025.
News video posted by ARY News, dated March 10, 2025.
News video posted by ETV 24 URDU, dated March 10, 2025.
Instagram post by ‘Geo News,’ posted on March 10, 2025.
News video posted by News 247 Urdu, dated March 10, 2025.
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