Fact Check: Old video of fire on ship shared as Houthi rebels attack on Maersk Gibraltar

Hyderabad: A video of a ship at sea on fire is viral on social media with the claim that it shows the Maersk Gibraltar container ship in flames from a Houthi attack near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait on December 14.

A Facebook account shared the video with the caption, “Footage of the Maersk Gibraltar container ship allegedly burning after a Houthi attack near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait on December 14.”

After a series of attacks on shipping by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, Danish shipping company Maersk and German container shipping line Hapag-Lloyd have paused their operation through the Red Sea. The companies have decided to pause the operation after Houthi rebels attacked two Liberian-flagged ships in the Bab al-Mandab Strait

Fact Check

NewsMeter found that the video is from 2018 and does not show the Maersk Gibraltar ship on fire.

On performing a reverse image search of the video’s keyframe, we found it on YouTube, published on March 8, 2018, by a YouTube channel named Abhinav Surjan Mariner.

‘Fire onboard the ultra-large containership Maersk Honam,’ read the title.

Taking this cue, we ran a relevant keyword search and found a report by Times Now on their YouTube channel showing the same visuals published on March 8, 2018, titled ‘Maersk Cargo Ship Catches Fire.’

According to the International Institute of International Surveying, Maersk Honam experienced a severe fire in the Arabian Sea on March 6, 2018, while it was carrying 7,860 containers from Singapore to the Suez Canal. The Transport Safety Investigation Bureau (TSIB) of Singapore found the actual cause of the fire was not conclusive.

Next, we looked for the attack on the Maersk Gibraltar and came across a report by Reuters which said that the vessel Maersk Gibraltar was targeted by a missile while travelling from Salalah, Oman, to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. However, it did not hit the ship, and the crew and vessel were reported safe.

Maersk, from its official X handle, in a series of posts, clarified that Maersk Gibraltar which was travelling from Salalah, Oman to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, was not hit. It also clarified that the posts doing the rounds show the tragic Maersk Honam fire incident in 2018.

Hence, we conclude that the viral video does not show Maersk Gibraltar on fire. The claim is false.