Lighthouse Journalism came across a picture of an incomplete tar road being widely shared on social media platforms. In the name of the roads, the picture showed that two tar strips were constructed in such a manner that just the tires of the vehicle would pass over the tar strip. It was claimed along with the post that the image of the condition of roads is from India. However, during the investigation, we found that the viral picture is from Bulgaria and not India.
Claim:
Facebook user Chhotu Juneja Kotra shared the viral picture on his profile along with a misleading claim.
Check the archive version of the post here.
Other social media users too are sharing the misleading claim and the picture on the platform.
Investigation:
We started the investigation by running a reverse image search on the viral picture.
We found the picture in a Bulgarian article, upon translation we found that the article was titled: “Railroad for cars”: Asphalting in “Dragalevtsi” blew up the network
The article was published on 13th October, 2023.
The article mentioned: On “Nenko Balkanski” street, asphalt has been laid only at both ends of the route, enough for the tires of a vehicle to pass, writes bTV. Two workers were passing by and were pouring the “rails” with a bucket, says a local resident.
We also found this image in a Facebook post.
The location mentioned here too was: Dragalevtsi, Sofia in Bulgaria.
We also found that the picture was carried by other Bulgarian media organizations too.
Conclusion: Viral image of a tar road made of just two strips is not from India but from Dragalevtsi in Sophia, Bulgaria. Viral claim is misleading.
