Fact Check: Viral video does not show Yemen’s Houthi attacking Israeli ship

Hyderabad: Yemen-based Houthi rebels are one of the groups involved in the broader Israel-Gaza conflict. In response to missile attacks from the Houthis, Israel recently conducted airstrikes targeting Houthi positions in Yemen.

In the context of the Houthi and Israel attacks on each other, a video depicting a ship engulfed in fire is being circulated on social media claiming that Yemen attacked an Israeli ship.

An X user shared the video and wrote, “Yemen sent an Israeli ship TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA.” (Archive)

Facebook users have also shared the video claiming the same.

Fact Check

NewsMeter found that the claim is false. The video showed an explosion of an oil tanker off the Nigerian coast in 2022.

Upon conducting a reverse image search of the video’s keyframes, we found the same video posted by a verified X-handle, Aleph, on February 3, 2022. The post stated that the footage showed an explosion of the Trinity Spirit Oil Tanker off the Nigerian coast. (Archive)

We also found the video in a report published by Newsweek on February 3, 2022, titled ‘Trinity Spirit Oil Tanker That Can Carry 2 Million Barrels Explodes at Sea.’ The report detailed an explosion on an oil production vessel off the coast of Nigeria. The vessel, identified as a floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) unit, is owned by Nigeria’s Shebah Exploration and Production Company Ltd (SEPCOL).

Nigerian outlets, Frontline News, Channels Television and Indian news channel Times Now also reported the incident in 2022 with the same details.