Old footage of mud volcano in Malaysia falsely linked to Myanmar earthquake

Published on April 10, 2025 at 09:12
3 min read
By Nyan Tun SHEIN, Najmi Mamat, AFP Thailand, AFP Malaysia

An old video of a mud volcano erupting in Malaysia has circulated online, falsely linked to a devastating 7.7-magnitude quake that struck Myanmar in late March and killed more than 3,600 people. The spokesperson of a wildlife resort in Sabah confirmed the video shows the Lipad mud volcano in the Tabin Wildlife Reserve when it erupted in 2022.

"This was the beginning of the earthquake in Mandalay," reads text superimposed on a Facebook reel posted on March 29, 2025.

The video of a bubbling grey mass erupting and spewing mud has since garnered 2.9 million views.

Screenshot of false Facebook post taken on April 8, 2025

The clip surfaced elsewhere on Facebook, YouTube and TikTok in the days following a 7.7-magnitude earthquake that struck Myanmar's second largest city of Mandalay on March 28, killing more than 3,600 people (archived link).

The claim also circulated in Thai.

Although local media reported a mud volcano eruption in western Myanmar five days after the initial quake, the circulating video was actually shot more than two years earlier in Malaysia (archived link).

A reverse image search using keyframes from the video found a similar clip published on the Facebook page of the Tabin Wildlife Resort -- located within the Tabin Wildlife Reserve -- on September 18, 2022 (archived links here and here).

"The Tabin Wildlife Reserve's Lipad Mud Volcano was spurting out volcanic mud at 10.00 am today which lasted for about 3 minutes," the post stated.

It added that the phenomenon was seen by a bird watching guide and guests of the resort.

The Lipad mud volcano is the largest within the reserve. The buildup of mud pressure inside the earth requires periodic release, resulting in the phenomenon (archived link).

Screenshot comparisons of false Facebook post (left) and the video uploaded by Tabin Wildlife Resort (right)

A spokesperson from Tabin Wildlife Resort office told AFP on April 7 that the video was filmed by a tour guide in 2022.

"Yes the mud volcano erupted at the wildlife resort here on the same day the video was published online," she said.

The clip matches a similar video geotagged on Google Maps, which shows the same bubbling grey mass erupting out of the earth in a clearing surrounded by trees (archived link).

Screenshot of Google Maps imagery, taken on April 8, 2025

The mud volcano eruption was also reported by local media on September 18, 2022 (archived links here and here).

AFP has debunked misinformation about the Myanmar earthquake here, here and here.

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