Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday, 3 October, inaugurated the 9.2 kilometre long Atal Tunnel which connects Manali to Lahaul-Spiti valley. However, soon after the inauguration by the Prime Minister, several media organisations and social media users started sharing an image of the Devil’s Slide Tunnel in California as that of the Atal Tunnel.
CLAIM
Media organisations like India Today, News18, Times Now Digital and websites like India Times and MensXp used the image to represent the newly inaugurated tunnel.
The image was also shared on Twitter and Facebook by several users including BJP leader Narendra Kumar Chawla.
WHAT WE FOUND
A Google reverse image search helped us find the same image (taken from a different angle) posted on a California based company’s website.
According to the description provided on the website, the image is of the Devil’s Slide By-Pass Tunnels constructed in 2012 in California.
Next, we searched Google for the terms “Devil’s Slide By-Pass Tunnels California” and came across several images of the tunnel. A website called cruiserstyle.com carried the aforementioned image in an article dated August 2012.
The blog titled ‘Inside The Devil’s Slide Tunnel’ carried several images of the tunnel.
The Devil’s Slide Tunnels also called the Tom Lantos Tunnels are two tunnels located on the San Francisco Peninsula in California, United States.
We also found a YouTube video showing the inauguration of the Devil’s Slide Tunnels.
Evidently, old image of a Tunnel in California is being shared as that of the Atal Tunnel inaugurated by the prime minister in Rohtang.
(With inputs from SM Hoax Slayer.)
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