The image emerged days after 48 individuals were eliminated when the Meilong expressway in southern China’s Guangdong province collapsed on Might 1, 2024 list below days of heavy rain.
Over 20 lorries careened into an almost 18-metre-long (60-foot) gash in the tarmac and dropped down the high slope listed below, in what Chinese state media called a “natural geological catastrophe”.
Guangdong, a largely inhabited commercial powerhouse in southern China, was struck by a string of catastrophes credited to severe weather condition occasions that month.
Comparable claims about the bad construct of the highway distributed with the very same picture on Facebook and X and in a short article by Taiwanese news outlet Newtalk.
However the reason for the catastrophe is being examined, according to a Might 4 report by state broadcaster CCTV that stated the Guangdong Provincial Federal government had actually formed an action group (archived link).
On the other hand, a reverse image search on Google discovered the picture shared in the incorrect posts precedes the Guangdong highway collapse.
Old roadway collapse
AFP discovered the picture shared in incorrect posts in a report by Chinese state news company Xinhua from June 16, 2011 (archived link).
The report is entitled: “Landslide interferes with traffic on Hangxinjing Highway” — describing a roadway in China’s eastern Zhejiang province.
According to the picture caption, the image reveals part of the highway on June 15, 2011 after it collapsed.
The landslide impacted 80 metres (260 feet) of highway, although no casualties were reported, Xinhua stated.
Below is a screenshot contrast of the picture utilized in the incorrect posts (left) and Xinhua’s picture (right):
The picture from Xinhua reveals a structure that represents one from the very same highway stretch in Zhejiang as seen in Baidu Map.
Below is a screenshot contrast of the picture released by Xinhua (left) and an image from Baidu Map (right) with the structure highlighted:
