This is an artist's impression of a planned underwater tunnel in Europe -- not India
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on July 6, 2022 at 11:38
- 2 min read
- By Uzair RIZVI, AFP India
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"Underwater road and railway line, this is a 14-kilometre tunnel built in Assam's Brahmaputra river. This is the new India," reads the Hindi-language caption to the image shared on Twitter on June 2, 2022.
The image was retweeted over 1,000 times.
It circulated online with the false claim following reports about plans for the construction of an underwater tunnel in the Brahmaputra -- a major river that passes through Assam.
The identical image was shared alongside a similar claim here and here on Facebook.
Several users appeared to believe the claim.
"Great work by the Indian government," one wrote.
"This is a new and strong India," said another.
European tunnel
However, keyword and reverse image searches on Google found the image in a document uploaded here in 2014 by Tunnel Engineering Consultants.
The document indicates the image shows a conceptual design for the Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link project.
The 18-kilometre tunnel, which will slash journey times between northern Germany and Denmark, is due to open in 2029.
Below is a screenshot of the document, with the image highlighted by AFP:
A representative for the engineering consultancy firm Witteveen+Bos -- a partner of Tunnel Engineering Consultants -- told AFP: "[The image] is indeed an artist impression, and a not too recent one at that, from the Fehmarn belt tunnel."
The image was also shared here by the website World Highways in a 2017 report about the Fehmarn Belt tunnel.
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