Video of cargo ship fire wrongly linked to attack on US vessel off Yemen | Fact check

Andre Byik, USA TODAY
·3 min read
1

The claim: Video shows aftermath of 2024 attack on US cargo ship off Yemen coast

A Jan. 15 Instagram video (direct link, archive link) shows a fire engulfing multiple containers on a cargo ship.

"JUST IN: United States Cargo Ship Hit by Missile off Yemeni Coast," the video's on-screen caption reads.

The Instagram post was liked 1,500 times in one day. The video was also shared widely on X, formerly Twitter.

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Our rating: False

While a U.S.-owned container ship was hit by a missile off the coast of Yemen in January, the video does not show the aftermath of the attack. The video is from 2021 when a fire broke out on a cargo ship that was anchored off the coast of Sri Lanka.

Video shows 2021 fire on cargo ship near Sri Lanka

U.S. Central Command announced that a U.S.-owned and operated container ship, the MV Gibraltar Eagle, was struck on Jan. 15 by an anti-ship missile fired by Houthi militants from Yemen. No injuries or significant damage was reported, and the ship continued on its journey, according to the U.S. military.

The video in the Instagram post does not show the aftermath of the attack on the Gibraltar Eagle. Instead, the video shows a fire that broke out on the MV X-Press Pearl in May 2021 off the coast of Sri Lanka, according to multiple news reports that include images of the burning ship. Part of the watermark visible in news video reports from the time can be seen in the post's video.

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The fire on the Singapore-flagged X-Press Pearl started on May 20, 2021, when the container ship was anchored off Colombo, Sri Lanka, and waiting to enter port, according to The Associated Press. The ship burned for 12 days before beginning to sink and caused severe pollution. The Sri Lankan navy believed the fire was caused by the ship's chemical cargo, which "included 25 tons of nitric acid and other chemicals, most of which were destroyed in the fire," according to the article.

U.S.-led forces on Jan. 11 began retaliatory strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen to hobble their ability to strike U.S. and international vessels and commercial shipping in the Red Sea, according to news reports and the U.S. military. U.S. forces on Jan. 16 struck and destroyed four Houthi anti-ship missiles that were prepared to launch from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, according to the U.S. military.

The Instagram user who shared the video did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

PolitiFact also debunked the claim.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Video shows 2021 cargo ship fire, not attack on US vessel | Fact check