Government officials in a south-west China village wanted to inform residents they were inspecting a new road.

Instead, it appears they have become stars of what is being described as a contender for the worst-doctored photograph in Internet history.

When a photo of three levitating officials inspecting a newly completed road in Huili became public on June 27, it prompted many calls—some outraged, others bemused—to the county’s public relations department. The department immediately apologised and withdrew the image and provided a clumsy explanation: other photos showed the three men on the road, however the photographer was unhappy with his original pictures so tried to stitch two together. “A government employee posted the edited picture out of error,” a Huili official told the state-run Xinhua news agency.