Photo shows railway damaged by earthquake in New Zealand, not by scorching heat

The photo was shared here on Facebook on October 6, 2022.

The post's Bengali-language caption translates to English as: "A railway bent by the scorching sun."

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Screenshot of the misleading Facebook post, taken on October 19, 2022.

An identical photo was shared on Facebook here and here alongside a similar claim.

The photo also circulated in an English-language post here on the viral site 9GAG, and here alongside a similar claim in Vietnamese.

However, the claim is false.

A reverse image search on Google found a corresponding photo published in a report by the British tabloid The Sun on June 6, 2018.

The photo's caption reads: "This bendy railway track is the result of an earthquake, and not Photoshop."

Below is a screenshot comparison of the photo in the misleading post (left) and the photo published by The Sun (right):

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Screenshot comparison of the photo in the misleading post (L) and the photo published by The Sun (R).

A further keyword search on Google found the same photo published here on the website of The American Geophysical Union, an international non-profit scientific association.

It is credited to Malcolm Teasdale of KiwiRail, the state-run railway operator in New Zealand.

Simon Kilroy, senior communication advisor at KiwiRail, said: "The photo was taken by KiwiRail's Malcolm Teasdale showing the aftermath of the 2010 Canterbury earthquake."

The Canterbury region of New Zealand was struck by a large earthquake with a magnitude of 7.1 on September 4, 2010.

Following the earthquake, many thousands of people faced a massive clean-up operation as they rebuilt their homes and businesses.