Footage shows truck dodging landslide in Indonesia, not India

"Landslide in Chamba: Truck narrowly escapes, driver cheats death. Watching the video of this landslide in Chamba, it's clear the driver's luck was on his side," reads part of a Hindi-language Facebook post shared August 1, 2025.

The video, which racked up more than 132,000 views, shows a truck escaping debris falling off a mountain.

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Screenshot of the false X post captured August 11, 2025, with a red X added by AFP

The clip circulated with similar claims in posts on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads as torrential rain hit Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand states in India's northern Himalayan region in July and August, killing at least 69 people (archived link).

On August 5, a flash flood driving a torrent of mud smashed into a town in northern Uttarakhand state, killing at least four people with around 100 others missing (archived link). Scores of people die each year during the rainy season due to flash floods and landslides across India (archived link).

But the clip actually shows a landslide on the Trans-Sumatra Highway in Indonesia's West Sumatra province.

A Google reverse image search of keyframes from the clip found a longer video published May 20, 2024 on YouTube, which credits Reuters and the video agency Newsflare (archived link).

The clip, titled "Truck escapes landslide after prolonged heavy rainfall in Indonesia", was flipped horizontally in the false social media posts.

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Screenshot comparison of the clip shared in the false post (L) and the video published on YouTube

The original video published by Newsflare is captioned: "A tanker truck loaded with CPO narrowly escaped being crushed by a landslide in West Sumatra in Indonesia on May 17. This incident was witnessed by residents who were also passing through the area (archived link)."

The caption adds that no casualties were reported. Media outlets CNN Indonesia and SINDOnews published the clip in reports about the incident (archived here and here).

Hours of heavy rain caused large volcanic rocks to roll down one of Indonesia's most active volcanoes into two districts on Sumatra island on May 11, 2024, while flooding inundated roads, homes and mosques (archived link).

The death toll from flash floods and cold lava flow from a volcano in western Indonesia was reported at 41, with 17 more missing on May 13.

An AFP journalist in Indonesia confirmed the blue-and-white vehicle seen escaping the landslide is a fuel tanker operated by the Indonesian state-owned oil and natural gas company Pertamina, which has previously commented on the colour-coding (archived link).

AFP has previously debunked other claims related to India's monsoon.

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