No, this video does not show Mount Soputan on Indonesia’s disaster-hit Sulawesi Island erupting

This article is more than one year old.
Published on October 11, 2018 at 16:00
1 min read
By AFP Indonesia

Multiple Facebook posts refer to the October 3 eruption of Mount Soputan on Sulawesi, which was hit by a deadly earthquake that triggered a tsunami on September 28, alongside a video of a volcanic eruption. The video is actually footage of a volcano erupting in Guatemala in June 2018.

The 30-second video, which seems to be taken from a moving vehicle, shows a massive ash cloud spewing into the sky.

The October 3 post says: “Mount Soputan in North Sulawesi erupted at 8.47 am local time. Let’s pray for the safety of our brothers and sisters there.”

The Facebook post was shared more than 2,500 times.

The same video footage can be seen in this Al Jazeera article dated June 4, 2018 and this YouTube video from Univision Noticias on the same date, the day after Fuego volcano erupted in Guatemala.

Mount Soputan, situated around 1,000 kilometres (600 miles) from the tsunami-ravaged town of Palu, did erupt on October 3, spewing volcanic ash 4,000 metres into the air, as seen in this AFP-sourced photo.

Indonesia’s disaster mitigation agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said in an October 3 tweet that the video in question did not show the Soputan eruption.

"This video does not show Mount Soputan erupting. This is a volcano eruption in South America. If any reports say this video is of Mount Soputan, that must be a hoax. Please ignore and don't spread it on social media," he said.

Video ini bukan erupsi Gunung Soputan. Ini erupsi gunung di Amerika Selatan. Jika dikatakan erupsi Gunung Soputan, itu HOQX. Abaikan dan jangan ikut menyebarkan di sosial media. pic.twitter.com/7a1l4LQEht
— Sutopo Purwo Nugroho (@Sutopo_PN) October 3, 2018

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