Video shows submerged 'water highway' in eastern China, not India

This article is more than one year old.
Published on September 29, 2022 at 07:40
3 min read
By Uzair RIZVI, AFP India

An aerial video of a flooded road with vehicles driving across it has been viewed hundreds of times alongside the claim it is located in India. However, the road is actually in eastern China; the Yongwu highway is submerged when the water level of the lake next to it rises. Chinese media outlets have repeatedly reported about the "most beautiful water highway".

The 13-second video clip was shared here on Twitter on September 16, 2022.

The video appears to show several vehicles driving along a flooded road that is just visible under the water’s surface.

“Incredible India, I finally encountered the most beautiful water highway,” the caption reads.

Screenshot of the misleading post, taken on September 25, 2022

The clip has been viewed more than 900 times alongside similar claims on Facebook here and here, and on Twitter here.

However, the claim is false.

A reverse image search on Yandex found the original video published here on July 10, 2021 by a Twitter account called "Beautiful China", which is affiliated with the state-run People's Daily newspaper.

The video is captioned: "Take a drive on 'road underwater' in E China's Jiangxi! A section of Yongxiu-Wucheng Road is submerged in water during flood season when the water level exceeds 18.67 meters #AmazingChina."

The Yongwu road connects Yongxiu city and Wucheng county, along the western shore of Poyang Lake in eastern China’s Jiangxi province.

Below is a screenshot comparison of the video in the false post (L) and the video posted by Beautiful China (R):

Screenshot comparison of the video in the false post (L) and the video posted by Beautiful China (R)

Chinese media organisations have repeatedly published news articles about the Yongwu highway, for example by state-run news channel CGTN in 2019 here, and by state news agency Xinhua in 2020 here.

According to the CGTN report, water in the nearby Poyang Lake rises during the rainy season, causing a stretch of the highway to flood.

On June 7, 2022, People's Daily also posted a set of similar photos on its simplified Chinese site, under the headline: "High-definition photos: Poyang Lake water level rises; the beautiful 'water highway' scenery is seen again."

Below is a screenshot comparison of the video posted by Beautiful China (L) and one of the photos posted by People's Daily in 2022 (R), with matching features highlighted by AFP:

Screenshot comparison of the video posted by Beautiful China (L) and one of the photos posted by People's Daily in 2022 (R)

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