A video accompanied by a post is being widely shared on social media claiming that the strange visuals are from a volcanic eruption in the Semeru Mountains in Indonesia. Let us fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video of Semeru Mountain volcanic eruption in Indonesia.
Fact: The video is not from Semeru Mountain eruption in Indonesia. The video is an altered compilation of images from a 2015 volcanic eruption in Chile and a waterfall in Indonesia. The upper part (image) of the video with the smoke is Calbuco volcanic eruption that happened in 2015 in Chile, where an ash cloud rose at least 15 kilometres (50,000 feet) above the volcano. The lower part (image) shows the Tumpak Sewu waterfall in Indonesia. On 04 December 2021, Semeru Mountain on the Java Island in Indonesia erupted. There are devastating videos of the volcanic eruption at Mount Semeru, however, the visuals in the viral video are not from Mount Semeru in Indonesia. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When reverse image search is done on the screenshots of the video, the top part (image) of the video with the smoke was found in the stock photo website Alamy. Though the image is of a volcanic eruption, it is the Calbuco volcano in Chile from April 2015.
Calbuco volcano erupted in Chile on 22 April 2015 for the first time since 1972. An ash cloud rose at least 15 kilometres (50,000 feet) above the volcano. According to various reports, the nearby communities of Puerto Montt (Chile) and San Carlos de Bariloche (Argentina) were menaced. The pictures like the one seen in the video (top part) can be found in the reports here and here.
The bottom part (image) of the video shows the Tumpak Sewu waterfall in Indonesia. So, these waterfalls are added to the viral video. Google Maps also confirms that the surroundings of Mount Semeru volcano are not the same as seen in the viral video.
On 04 December 2021, Semeru Mountain on the Java Island in Indonesia erupted. According to reports, the eruption of the volcano killed at least 14 people. The hot ash from the eruption had buried houses to their rooftops. There are devastating videos of the eruption at Mount Semeru, however, the visuals in the viral video are not from Mount Semeru in Indonesia.
To sum it up, this video does not show the recent volcanic eruption at Mount Semeru in Indonesia.
