Image shows road destroyed by underground explosion in South Africa, not Kenya

"Avoid River Road if you can," reads a post on Twitter, which is being rebranded as X.

River Road is a busy street in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.

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A screenshot of the false post, taken on July 25, 2023 ( Mary KULUNDU)

The post, shared by an account called "The Nairobiyan" on July 24, 2023, includes an image of a collapsed road with large cracks, surrounded on both sides by tall buildings.

The same claim was shared on this Kenyan Facebook group consisting of taxi-hailing app drivers, warning them to avoid the area.

Another Facebook post repeated it here.

The story, however, is false.

Underground explosion

A reverse image search revealed the picture is a screenshot from a bystander's video captured after an underground explosion on Lilian Ngoyi Street (formerly Bree Street) in central Johannesburg.

South Africa’s national broadcaster SABC used the same photo in its report on the incident and attributed it to social media (archived here).

Other social media accounts in South Africa also posted similar images, including here and here (archived here and here). A video shared in a Facebook reel (archived here) captured the aftermath from the same angle as the image being falsely linked to Kenya.

On July 19, 2023, a blast ripped through a main road in central Johannesburg, killing at least one person and injuring about 41 others, according to South African authorities. AFP covered the story here.

AFP photographer Luca Sola captured the aftermath of the explosion and the street in his image matches the one seen in the false posts.

Both images feature a billboard advertising the Dorchester Mansions apartment block in Johannesburg.

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A comparison of AFP’s picture of the road (left) and the image shared in false posts in Kenya ( Mary KULUNDU)

The outdoor ad is also visible on Street View on Google Maps.

Emergency services initially blamed underground gas pipes but the Egoli Gas company said it was "unlikely" the explosion -- which cracked tarmac and overturned vehicles including minibus taxis -- "was caused by a gas pipeline or leak".

"Our network has experienced no pressure loss, which indicates the gas pipelines are intact. Our customers in the area continue to receive gas uninterrupted," the company said in a statement.

The City of Johannesburg said investigations into the origin of the explosion were still ongoing, in a statement published on July 26, 2023 (archived here).