Fact-Checked: AI-Generated Image of Rescuers with Tricolor Goes Viral in Uttarkashi Tunnel Rescue

An AI-generated image was the target of many major media outlets, who used it in their stories on the 41 laborers who were rescued from the Silkyara tunnel in the Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand. After the workers were successfully evacuated, the picture shows rescuers posing for the camera while carrying the Indian tricolour.

Following the operation, which concluded after 16 days of nonstop work by rescue personnel, the photo went viral on social media. Along with more pictures from the rescue effort, it was also uploaded by Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, the leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and a former Union Minister, from his X page.

Following that, it was included in stories by a number of prominent media sites, including Loksatta, News18, The New Indian Express, Hindustan Times, and India Today, all of which gave credit to the news agency PTI. The AI picture was posted by Press Trust of India (PTI) as part of their syndicated feed, which is how other news organizations found it.

Verify The Image’s Facts
Mohammed Zubair, a senior journalist and fact-checker, even brought it up on X, questioning why a large number of people were sharing the AI-generated photo showing rescuers at the Silkyara tunnel site.

Now that PTI has removed the picture from the syndicated feed, it is a fake, the company has issued an alert.

41 Workers At the Uttarkashi Tunnel Were Evacuated
All 41 workers stranded in an under-construction tunnel at Silkyara in Uttarakhand’s Uttarkashi were rescued in a quick evacuation procedure on Tuesday evening, after sixteen days of intense efforts by specialists and rescue officials. Candy was handed out at the location. Everyone who had been waiting for this moment for the last two weeks was beaming with relief and happiness. In celebration of the laborers’ rescue, firecrackers were let off in their communities.

When the conduit that had been installed to evacuate the workers was successfully pushed over to the opposite side of the rubble, the operation achieved a breakthrough. Wheeled stretchers were being used to remove the laborers one by one.

The workers were transported by backup ambulances to a hospital reserved specifically for them, where they spent the night under monitoring. The facility has 41 beds. This afternoon, they were all transported by Chinook chopper to AIIMS-Rishikesh.