The captain of the container ship Dali, which crashed into a bridge in Baltimore, is Ukrainian.
There’s no evidence for this. The ship’s management said at the time of the accident the entire crew was composed of Indian nationals.
A number of Facebook posts falsely claim that the captain of the ship Dali, which crashed into a bridge close to the US city of Baltimore earlier this week is a citizen of Ukraine.
As evidence, some of the posts include a screenshot from a maritime recruitment website, which includes the details of a Ukrainian man who has worked on the Dali in the past. This does not mean that this man was captain on 26 March, when the accident happened.
The name of the captain has not been made public but there is no evidence to support the claim they were from Ukraine.
According to a press release issued by the ship’s management company, Synergy Marine Group, all 22 members of the Dali’s crew are Indian. Two pilots—local specialists who help guide vessels safely in and out of ports—were also aboard the Dali at the time of the collision. One pilot was a trainee observing a more experienced operator. Both are reported to be US citizens living in Baltimore.
The screenshot in some of the posts comes from BalticShipping.com, a website for recruitment in the maritime industry.
That man’s record has apparently since been deleted from the website, but archived versions uploaded by a BBC journalist and also seen by Full Fact show the man last worked on Dali in 2016.
Other fact checkers have also found no evidence to support the idea that the captain of the ship was from Ukraine.
False or misleading claims online have the potential to harm individuals, groups and institutions. Such claims can spread fast and far, and are difficult to contain and correct.
This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as false because there’s no evidence for this, and the ship’s management said at the time of the accident all the crew members were from India.
Full Fact fights for good, reliable information in the media, online, and in politics.
Bad information ruins lives. It promotes hate, damages people’s health, and hurts democracy. You deserve better.