Claim
Visuals of heavy traffic in Manali, Himachal Pradesh “due to Christmas-New Year holidays.”
Fact
A Google reverse image search on the viral photograph led us to a post by Facebook community, @I.Love.Kullu.HP, dated July 5, 2022. Displaying the widely circulated photograph, the post stated, “Manali Roads now a day.. (sic).” The image was credited to the Instagram account of user @theyashhanda.
Taking a clue, we scanned through the Instagram account of @theyashhanda, and found the viral photograph posted by the user on January 27, 2022.
The user had shared another photograph of the same location from a different angle on January 29, 2022.
We could thus conclude that the viral picture showing an aerial view of multiple columns of vehicles stranded on the hills is nearly one year old and does not show the current situation in Manali.
Furthermore, a Facebook user @liegendindiaholiiday, shared the same image identifying the location as “Nehru Khund (Kund), Manali, Himachal Pradesh.”
Following this, we looked up “Nehru Kund, Manali” on Google Earth View and found the terrain and topological features nearby the said ‘Kund’ identical to the one seen in the viral image.
Newschecker has further reached out to @theyashhanda to know when the photograph was exactly taken. The article will be updated upon receiving a response from him.
We could thus conclude that though the viral photograph shows visuals from manali, it is not recent. The picture is at least 11-month-old and is being shared out of context.
Result: Missing Context
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