Viral clip shows Bangladesh coast not ships stuck in Strait of Hormuz
What was claimed
An aerial video shows hundreds of ships stopped in the Strait of Hormuz.
Our verdict
False. This video does not show the Strait of Hormuz. It was actually filmed from a plane near Chittagong airport in Bangladesh.
A viral video filmed from a plane window showing hundreds of stationary ships spread across a wide stretch of water has been shared with claims it shows the Strait of Hormuz.
But this isn’t true. The clip was actually filmed near Chittagong airport in Bangladesh.
Geolocating the footage
The clip has been shared on Facebook with overlaid text reading “Strait of Hormuz”.
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We compared the coastline in the clip with satellite imagery of the Strait of Hormuz and did not find a match. The most distinctive element in the clip is a curved river, part of which runs parallel to the coast, within a built up area. We couldn’t find a similar feature anywhere along the Strait.
The earliest version of the clip we found online was posted on Instagram on 3 October. Although the post was not captioned, the poster said it was filmed in Bangladesh in response to a comment.
The shape of the shoreline in the video matches the coast by Chittagong airport in Bangladesh. The curved river we see in the clip also matches the Karnaphuli river near the airport. Other videos shared online from planes arriving and departing Chittagong airport also match the scene in the viral clip.
Videos can easily be shared out of context, especially during times of conflict, so it’s worth checking where a clip comes from before sharing it. Our misinformation toolkit can help you feel more confident about identifying where an image or video originated.
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 the shoreline in the video doesn’t match the Strait of Hormuz. The clip actually shows Bangladesh.
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