Old clip shows Nigerian maritime disaster, not Huthi attack on Israeli ship

The Yemen-based Huthi group has been attacking shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden in what they call a show of solidarity with Palestinians over the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. A social media user shared footage of a ship on fire, claiming it showed a “Yemen” attack on an Israeli ship. But the claim is false: the footage is from a 2022 explosion of a Nigerian oil container ship.

“Yemen sent an Israeli ship to the bottom of the sea,” reads an X post published on September 29, 2024.

An Iran-based user shared the video showing flames and smoke billowing out of a semi-submerged ship.

Yemen’s Huthi rebels have attacked scores of merchant ships off the country's coast over the past ten months as part of a sometimes-deadly campaign they say is in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza (archived here).

The Iran-backed group’s drone and missile strikes have targeted nearly 100 vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, according to the Joint Maritime Information Centre, which is run by a Western naval coalition.

Social media users liked the post more than 6,000 times, with several praising the alleged attack.

“Good for Yemen. The bravest country & people fighting Israel & the USA and trying to protect the Palestinian people and Hezbollah,” wrote one user.

But the claim that the video shows a Yemeni attack on an Israeli ship is false.

Nigerian explosion

A reverse image search revealed the original footage is from a February 2022 maritime disaster in Nigeria (archived here).

“FPSO Nigerian oil vessel explodes, 10 dead after FPSO Trinity Spirit explodes…” reads part of the caption on a YouTube video, published in February 2022 (archived here).

Using a keyword search for “FPSO Trinity Spirit explosion,” AFP Fact Check found other clips from the disaster on international media sites (archived here).

In both videos, the ship is partially submerged with a red tower bearing a white symbol visible. The same outrigging is also visible off the ship’s stern.

The FPSO Trinity Spirit exploded at the Ukpokiti Terminal in southern Nigeria, raising concerns about the country’s ageing energy infrastructure (archived here).

The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission launched an investigation into the explosion, which left seven people dead and sent about 60,000 barrels of oil into the Atlantic Ocean (archived here).

AFP Fact Check has debunked several false claims about attacks in the Red Sea, which you can read about here.