No, this photo is not of a bizarre accident in Nairobi

This article is more than one year old.
Published on November 2, 2018 at 09:25
1 min read
By Mary KULUNDU

A photo circulating on social media captures a bizarre accident that purportedly happened in Kenya's capital city, Nairobi. The picture shows a car plunged into a deep sinkhole leaving only a small part of the rear section visible. However, a reverse image search reveals that the photo was taken in Pakistan.

The October 29 photo post attracted over 450 comments and reactions when shared with this Facebook group that has more than 120,000 daily interactions, according to CrowdTangle data.

The post was captioned: "Happening now in Nairobi CBD!!!! Very strange."

Screenshot of the misleading Facebook post of a bizarre accident in Nairobi

According to reverse image search on Yandex and Google search engines, the image was first published by Associated Press of Pakistan Corporation (APPC) on July 3, 2018.

APPC attributed the image to photojournalist Hassan Mahmood and described it as a car that plunged into a sinkhole on Sillanwali Road, Sargodha, Punjab province.

Screenshot of the actual accident published on APPC website

The same photo was used by another Pakistani news website the following day, on July 4, to illustrate floods that led to fatal accidents in Punjab. At least 10 people were reported dead after the severe rains.

Earlier this year, Pakistan was hit by severe monsoon rains that left deep sinkholes on several roads.

Web Pakistani also shared the photo with several others to show the gravity of the rains.

Roads along Luthuli area, which is located in Nairobi's downtown, are heavily potholed but the picture was an exaggeration of the situation.

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