Tuesday, December 10, 2024
Tuesday, December 10, 2024

HomeDaily ReadsFact Check: Viral Image Circulating Purportedly Showing a Ship Affected by Houthi...

Fact Check: Viral Image Circulating Purportedly Showing a Ship Affected by Houthi Attacks is Outdated

Claim: Yemeni players scored another goal in the Red Sea.
Fact: The image being circulated as evidence of Yemeni players taking down a ship in the Red Sea is inaccurate. It actually depicts the MV Rena, a Greek-owned Liberian-flagged container ship that ran aground on the Astrolabe Reef off the coast of New Zealand in 2011. The incident resulted in a substantial oil spill, causing significant environmental damage.

Recently, on social media platforms, particularly Facebook, an image of a container ship has been circulating. The claim alleges that the image is proof of Yemeni players taking down a ship in the Red Sea. See the posts here and here.  

ss of the viral post taken form facebook

Newschecker-Bangladesh has verified this claim as false. 

Fact check/Verification

The image under scrutiny, often shared on social media, purports to capture Yemeni Houthis attacking a ship in the Red Sea. However, upon closer examination and verification, this claim is found to be inaccurate and misleading. The image depicts a different event entirely, unrelated to Yemen or a celebratory moment in the Red Sea for the Houthis. We found a similar photo of a wrecked ship in the website ALL About Lean

Misidentified Event

The image actually portrays the MV Rena, a container ship incident that occurred near the coast of New Zealand in 2011. The MV Rena ran aground and caused extensive environmental damage due to a navigational error, leading to significant news coverage at the time. See a report here- Maritime NZ

Geographical Inaccuracy

The MV Rena accident occurred off the coast of Tauranga, New Zealand, on October 5, 2011. The Red Sea is over 11,000 kilometers (6,800 miles) away on the other side of the Indian Ocean. The image circulating with claims of Yemeni Houthis attacking a ship in the Red Sea is unrelated to the actual incident. See the map here

ss shows the distance between the Red Sea and Tauranga, New Zealand
taken from google map

Conclusion:

The assertion that the image depicts Yemeni Houtis attacked a ship in the Red Sea is false and misleads the public. The image is unrelated to Yemen and portrays a maritime incident that occurred in a different region i.e Tauranga, New Zealand. 

Result: False

Our Sources:
 ALL About Lean.,  Maritime NZ
Newschecker’s Own Analysis


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