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Around the time nine people lost their lives to a landslip in Himachal Pradesh’s Kinnaur district, online users shared a video with captions stating that tourists have started returning from the mountain state. The video shows a massive traffic jam of vehicles on what looks like a mountain.
One such user shared this 24-second video with a caption that reads, “The bevy of Indians tourists returning back from #Kinnaur. As their shit has hit the fan (rumbling boulders), sudden premature awakening has since ascended on them. Else they would have continued to loiter there endlessly. #HimachalPradesh #Himachal”
Another user’s caption read, “Tourists returning from #HimachalPradeshLandslide #HimachalPradesh #HimachalLandSlide #Himachal #Kinnaur”
Another similar post shared earlier this week (now deleted) garnered over 550 likes and 200 retweets. An archived version of the post can be viewed here.
According to Crowdtangle, a Facebook page that shared this claim with the video garnered around 14.8K views in total at the time of writing this fact-check.
Bharat Times and 14TV Telugu also shared this claim with the video on their Facebook pages.
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Fact Check / Verification
Through reverse image search of keyframes from the video, we found that the viral video is not from Himachal Pradesh’s Kinnaur. The video showing a massive traffic jam of vehicles is in fact from Pakistan.
Dawn, Pakistan’s daily newspaper reported that the viral video is from Kaghan valley in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Mansehra district. Published on 25 July, Dawn’s report reads, “Tourists have flocked to the Kaghan valley of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Mansehra district in record numbers this Eidul Azha, with hundreds of thousands of vehicles choking the roads and causing traffic jams in the scenic tourist site, it emerged on Sunday.”
District Police Officer Asif Bahadur told Dawn.com that “we have welcomed tourists in around 0.7 million vehicles to this picturesque valley and the influx of nature lovers is still on its peak even on the fifth day of the holiday.”
A Google Earth view of Mansehra-Naran-Jalkhad road shows the same bent curve on the mountain as seen in the viral video.
Other media organisations in Pakistan also reported about the record number of tourists flocking to Kaghan Valley with similar visuals.
Additionally, Himachal Pradesh Police has also clarified that the viral video is not from their state. Their post reads, “A fake post is doing rounds in social media wherein videos & pictures are being circulated showing massive traffic jam in HP. The facts have been checked & verified. None of these videos & pictures belong to Himachal Pradesh.”
This claim was previously debunked in our Hindi and Punjabi fact-checks.
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Conclusion
The viral video showing a massive traffic jam on a mountain is not from Himachal Pradesh’s Kinnaur district. It is in fact from Pakistan’s Kaghan valley where tourists flocked to the tourist destination on the weekend of 25 July.
Result: Misleading
Our Sources
Dawn: https://www.dawn.com/news/1636868
Thenews.com.pk: https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/868894-influx-of-tourists-in-kaghan-valley-triggers-fuel-shortage-in-area
24NewsHD: https://www.24newshd.tv/25-Jul-2021/thousands-of-tourists-in-trouble-at-kaghan-valley
Himachal Pradesh Police: https://twitter.com/himachalpolice/status/1419643327780057089?s=20
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