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When police in an Indian town stopped a speeding tuk-tuk (auto-rickshaw), they were surprised to find how many people were crammed into the small vehicle.

A video showing 27 people, including children and elderly, disembarking from the auto-rickshaw in Fatehpur has gone viral on social media.

It shows a policeman counting each passenger as they exit the vehicle.

An auto-rickshaw can generally carry three people, but some are modified to seat up to six passengers.

The incident involving the overcrowded vehicle has been reported from Fatehpur, a town in India's most populated state of Uttar Pradesh.

According to media reports, when police tried to flag down the autorickshaw for going too fast, the driver tried to speed away. Police then chased it down and forced it to stop.

The police were "shocked to see over two dozen passengers inside", Rajesh Kumar, superintendent of Fatehpur police, told the Times of India newspaper.

The autorickshaw has been seized for violating the speed limit and for being overloaded.

On social media, videos of the incident have been watched tens of thousands of times and many Twitter users have posted humorous comments in response.

Some said the incident was deserving of a "world record", while others used it to make a point about India's inadequate transport facilities.

Autorickshaws are a popular mode of transport in India. Though ubiquitous, they are also expensive and have fares several times higher than buses.

But they remain a lot cheaper than taxis and are hugely popular with the Indian middle class.

A few years ago, Mexico's ambassador to India had made news for using an auto instead of a car to drive around Delhi.