CLAIM: A video shows a virus turning people into zombies on a train in China.
AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. The video shows actors and participants during a zombie-themed event in Indonesia called “Train to Apocalypse” hosted by an event company and Jakarta’s Light Rail Transit in 2022.
THE FACTS: Social media users are sharing a harrowing clip out of context to suggest that an apocalyptic new virus is turning people into zombies in China.
The video shows what appears to be panicked passengers aboard a train, screaming and attempting to flee as supposed zombies try to get inside.
“Zombies virus in China,” wrote one Instagram user who shared the video on Sunday. The same clip has also spread widely on TikTok.
But the clip doesn’t show an emerging threat that’s cause for concern. Instead it shows an event in August 2022 in Indonesia’s capital put on by an event company called Pandora Box in partnership with Jakarta’s light rail transit agency.
The haunted-house-style experience, called “Train to Apocalypse,” according to Pandora Box’s Instagram page, was inspired by the 2016 Korean horror film “Train to Busan.” In that film, passengers become trapped on a speeding train during a zombie outbreak.
Both Pandora Box and LRT Jakarta confirmed in statements that the clip showed the apocalypse train event sometime between August and September 2022.
The company’s Instagram and TikTok pages show several similar clips of actors dressed as zombies interacting with passengers on the trains.
The train cars also contain advertisements for Indonesian companies in Indonesian. Some participants can also be heard speaking Indonesian in the video.
While it’s unclear exactly when the clip was filmed and who first posted it, the experience took place at the North Boulevard Light Rail Transit train station in Jakarta from Aug. 5 to Sept. 11, 2022, according to a ticket page for the event.
A longer clip containing the same footage was posted on TikTok by an account on Aug. 8, 2022, using the words “zombie” and “vehicle” in Indonesian and the hashtag #traintoapocalypse.
Local news outlets that covered the event said it was held on several modified train cars in order to promote the use of public transportation. Video from the coverage also generally matches the video circulating on social media, featuring the same trains and graffiti-strewn station, as “zombies” lurch around and people in military outfits try to keep them at bay.
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This is part of AP’s effort to address widely shared misinformation, including work with outside companies and organizations to add factual context to misleading content that is circulating online. Learn more about fact-checking at AP.
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