FACT CHECK: Video Claims To Show Smoking Ship Hit By Houthis

Elias Atienza | Senior Reporter

A video shared on Facebook claims to show a Smoking ship hit by the Houthi rebels.

Verdict: False

The video is from December 2023 and shows a South Korean ship in China. It has nothing to do with the Red Sea crisis.

Fact Check:

Houthi rebels are cracking down on aid workers in Yemen, according to DW. The rebels have also arrested people for celebrating Sept. 26 as the birth of the Yemen Arab Republic, per the outlet.

Social media users are claiming to show a vessel hit by the Houthis. The video shows a smoking ship that has been damaged, with several Yemeni flag emojis overlayed. (RELATED: JD Vance Claims Kamala Harris Plagiarized Sections Of Her Book)

This claim is false. Through a reverse image search, Check Your Fact found that the video is from China and shows a South Korean tanker. The video’s title reads, “[Caption News] Korean ship sailing in China… suddenly ‘pop’ downstream of the Changjiang River / KBS 2023.12.22.”

The video description continues:

“A fire broke out on a ship sailing downstream of the Yangtze River in China. This is the New Bright, a Korean ship sailing near the Sutong Bridge in Changshu City, Jiangsu Province…Our Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries said that there were 19 crew members on board the burning ship, 4 of whom were Korean nationals. One person was also reported to have been injured. It was reported that the New Bright was not carrying any cargo at the time of the fire. Local media reported that there were no secondary accidents such as oil leaks or pollution.”

Full Fact also debunked this claim.

Elias Atienza

Senior Reporter
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