Evergreen Ship Captain Isn't Marwa Elselehdar
The Claim
The Evergreen vessel stuck in the Suez Canal is captained by Egypt’s first female captain Marwa Elselehdar.
News posted on
Emerging story
Posts are widely circulating on social media claim that Marwa Elselehdar is the Evergreen ship captain currently stuck in the Suez Canal. Users claim that Marwa is the first Arab Egyptian woman to work as a container tanker captain. Claims she entered history by closing the Suez Canal and paralyzing international shipping by disrupting the course of hundreds of ships,” thereby resulting in oil prices increasing by 5% and material losses of 400 million dollars. Users shared the claim with an image from the Arab News website of the female captain with the headline “Cargo ship crashes into Suez Canal. Arab Llyod, captain, involved in the incident,” as seen below.
Misbar’s Analysis
The Misbar investigation found this claim to be fake. Although Marwa Elselehdar is indeed the first Egyptian captain and a marine first officer at the Maritime Academy Forum, she is not the Evergreen vessel's captain.
Marwa, in a 7-minute video on her official Instagram, Marwa had confirmed that she is not the ship captain, nor does her work have anything to do with the Suez Canal. Marwa added that she works on board the Aida 4 ship of the Egyptian Authority for Maritime Safety (EAFMS). Marwa said that she was upset with the rumor as she had worked tirelessly to become a captain and faced many challenges. These rumors derogated Arab women’s ability to work as sea captains.
Additionally, the Misbar team found that the image circulating is a modified one of the original Arab News article published on 20 March 2021 with the headline “The First Marine Captain Riding the Waves of Success," as seen below.
The Taiwanese vessel 400m-long (1,300ft), 200,000-tonne ran aground on Tuesday morning amid high winds and a sandstorm that affected visibility and became lodged in the canal, causing a massive traffic jam and forcing ships to find alternate routes. Given the findings, the misbar team confirms the news is fake, and Marwa is not the ship captain.
