Video of a boat fire predates the Israel-Lebanon conflict
The war erupted after Hamas and other Palestinian militants launched the unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel, drawing in Hezbollah and other militant groups. The clashes have intensified in the Middle East leading to heavy casualties. in its aftermath, misinformation has surged on social media platforms. Recently a video showing a boat engulfed by fire amid sea has been widely shared on social media platform X(formerly Twitter)with the claim that an explosion inside the port of Haifa due to missiles launched from Lebanon.
Posting this video on X, an account with the username @WAJprestige wrote: “An explosion inside the port of Haifa due to missiles launched from Lebanon.
Moreover, several users shared this video and made similar claims. The link can be seen here, here and here.
Fact-check
To verify the authenticity of the viral video, the DFRAC team converted it into some keyframes and reverse-searched them on Google. We found that it has been available on YouTube since Dec 2023 & the caption read: “Shocking reports of a fishing boat on fire in Budai Town. The fishing boat was caught in the sea of fire, but no one was injured” (Translated from Chinese).
Upon investigating further, we came across some reports from Dec 2023 citing that a boat fire accident occurred in Budai Town in the early morning of Dec 11. Fortunately, no one was trapped or injured, and the entire ship was charred and damaged due to the intense fire. The exact cause of the fire has yet to be clarified after investigation.
Conclusion
DFRAC’s fact-check proves that the viral video has been misleadingly shared on X. Originally, it depicts a fishing boat on fire in Budai town taiwan & dated back to Dec 2023, not related to the ongoing Israel-Lebanon conflict
Analysis: Misleading
