Old photo of Mount Etna eruption is misleadingly used in posts about Santorini tremors

Published on February 4, 2025 at 17:12
4 min read
By Magdalini GKOGKOU, AFP Greece

Since the start of February 2025, the Greek tourist island of Santorini has been rocked by an unprecedented series of seismic tremors, prompting thousands of locals to leave the picturesque spot in the Aegean. Amid fears of potential volcanic activity, some social media users were sharing an image of glowing lava on a volcano, misleadingly linking it to Santorini. But AFP traced the image back to Spanish news agency EFE's database, where it was identified as being taken on Mount Etna in 2004. Greek experts have said the Santorini tremors were not linked to volcanic activity.

Santorini and its neighbouring islands were hit by hundreds of tremors in early February 2025, including more than 40 earthquakes with a magnitude of over 4.0 within a period of 72 hours (archived here).

By February 4, some 6,000 people had left the island by sea and air, while schools in Santorini and the neighbouring islands of Anafi, Ios and Amorgos have been shut as a precaution until February 7.

Santorini lies atop a volcano which last erupted in 1950. But an experts' committee monitoring the situation said on February 3, 2025 that the current phenomenon was "not linked to volcanic activity," as AFP reported. The committee said that some 200 tremors over 3.0 magnitude had been recorded since February 1 (archived here).

A quake with a magnitude of 4.9 hit early in the morning of February 4 amid other smaller tremors. Hours later, it was followed by a 5.0-magnitude quake.

In this context, Facebook users in Greece began circulating a photo showing what appears to be a volcano crater filled with glowing lava, along with a claim that "it's only a matter of time before the volcano in Santorini erupts" (examples here, here and here).

Most Facebook posts shared links to articles in the comments, all featuring the same photo in stories about the ongoing situation in Santorini (examples here, here and here).

Neither the articles nor the posts indicated that it was a file image.

Several users commented on the posts expressing concern about possible volcanic activity. "They are talking about a big earthquake which may well 'wake up' the volcano and cause a tsunami", one comment read while another said: "Let's all pray NOT TO ERUPT!!!!!"

However, AFP found the photo in the database of Spanish news agency EFE, where it was identified as being taken in 2004 and showing Mount Etna in Sicily, Italy.

Screenshot of a misleading post on Facebook taken on February 4, 2025.

Photo of Mount Etna taken in 2004

A reverse image search revealed that the photo has been used in multiple articles (examples here, here, here and here) with most identifying it as showing Mount Etna in Sicily.

A Google search in Spanish using the phrase "Archive photograph showing the lava-filled crater of the Italian volcano Etna" from the image caption of this article led us to another article in La Vanguardia, which credits the image as: "Efe / CUFARI / Propias".

A search at EFE's database using the keywords "etna cufari" led us to the original photo, "dated 12 September 2004 of the lava crater on Mount Etna in Sicily", Italy.

"A new flow of lava was moving towards the deserted zone of Bove valley, 13 September 2004", the caption of the photo reads.

The details of the original photo are shown in the screenshot below.

Screenshot of the original image on EFE's database. Image captured on February 4, 2025.

Santorini is one of Greece's top travel destinations. It has a population of just 15,500 but attracted 3.4 million visitors in 2023, as AFP reported.

European travel agents contacted by AFP stated that foreign visitors to Santorini were few in February 2025, with bookings anticipated to increase in the spring of 2025.

Photo shows a view of the old port and the town of Fira on the island of Santorini on February 4, 2025. (AFP / ARIS MESSINIS)

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