The photo is of Xuguang Expressway in China.
This Facebook post with a photo purportedly of Nithi Bridge is FALSE.
The post reads: “Nithi bridge in Meru-Embu highway,, a dangerous blackspot” and the accompanying image is of vehicles on a road with high pillars near a hilly area.
Nithi Bridge, located in Tharaka Nithi County along the Embu-Meru highway, has been regarded as a black spot over the years.
Since its construction in the early 1980s, several road accidents have been reported at the bridge, claiming lives.
The Facebook post follows an accident at the bridge on August 31, 2024, which led to the loss of twelve lives and left several others injured. The victims of the latest accidents were travelling to Nairobi from Meru after attending a parents’ visitation party as reported by local media.
But is this the image of Nithi Bridge?
VERIFICATION
An initial keyword search of Nithi Bridge images shows different images taken from different angles of the bridge. The resulting images, however, do not resemble the image in the post
Image of Nithi Bridge in Tharaka Nithi County.
A subsequent reverse image search of the photo claimed to be of Nithi Bridge shows that the image is of the Xuguang Expressway in China.
The Xuguang Expressway is located in central South China and links the cities of Xuchang and Guangzhou. A Chinese digital media outlet also captured the expressway in this video.
Further, a satellite view of both the Xuguang Expressway and Nithi Bridge also shows the difference between the two roads in terms of location and structure.
Satellite view of Xuguang Expressway.
Satellite view of Nithi Bridge
VERDICT
Lake region bulletin established the claim that the image under our scrutiny was not of Nithi Bridge therefore the claim is FALSE.
This fact-check was produced by Lake Region Bulletin, under the African Fact-Checking Incubator programme, with support from PesaCheck, Code for Africa’s fact-checking initiative, and the African Fact-Checking Alliance(AFCA).
