Viral videos claim to show Iranian fishermen salvaging luxury goods from the sunken cargo ship GFS Pride near the Strait of Hormuz. While the vessel genuinely sank in October and all crew members were safely evacuated, the dramatic footage is entirely fake.
Videos claiming to show Iranian fishermen racing to collect iPhones, luxury perfumes and other goods from a sunken cargo ship near the Strait of Hormuz have drawn widespread attention online. The viral footage shows the sinking of the Singapore-flagged cargo vessel GFS Pride. However, a significant caveat has emerged: an investigation by Al Jazeera’s open-source unit found that the circulating videos were AI-generated, rather than authentic footage of fishermen salvaging cargo.
According to reports, hundreds of fishermen and other locals were seen in videos travelling in small boats towards partially submerged shipping containers. The clips purportedly showed people attempting to retrieve boxes from the water, with one small boat apparently struggling to tow an entire container.
Watch the viral video here:
Scroll to load tweet…
In one of the videos, a man says, “We are gathering and heading towards the Strait of Hormuz.” He adds, “We heard a container ship sank, so we’re going to collect iPhones and perfume.”
An embedded post on X also circulated alongside claims about the incident. The post, shared by an account named ذوالــفـــقـــارحــــیـــدر (@rezakarimi_) on October 15, carried the Persian caption: انتقال یک کانتینر پر از گوشی آیفون ۱۸ توسط مردم محلی تنگه هرمز به ساحل
The caption refers to local people bringing a container full of iPhone 18 phones from the Strait of Hormuz to the shore.
Scroll to load tweet…
Also Read: Chinese Bride Gifts Groom RTX 5090 Graphics Card at Wedding, His Emotional Reaction Wins Hearts | WATCH
What happened to the GFS Pride?
The GFS Pride sank on October 14 after a fire broke out aboard the vessel, according to Singapore’s account cited by NDTV. All 21 crew members were evacuated safely, with no injuries reported. The ship was carrying more than 2,500 containers.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) navy offered a different explanation, claiming the vessel had entered an “unauthorised and dangerous” route before striking a sea mine that triggered the fire.
The sinking occurred amid heightened tensions and attacks on commercial shipping around the strategically important Strait of Hormuz, a key passage for global energy supplies and trade.
Why the viral footage needs scrutiny
While the ship’s sinking and the safe evacuation of its crew were reported separately, the dramatic videos showing people collecting smartphones and perfumes should not be treated as genuine evidence. Al Jazeera’s open-source investigation traced the clips to an Instagram account called Nativora, which publishes fictional, AI-generated nature and wildlife content. Its analysis identified visual inconsistencies and other signs of artificial generation.
The distinction matters: the maritime incident was real, but the viral scenes of fishermen retrieving luxury goods were found to be fabricated.
Also Read: Woman Busy Eating at Mexico Mall Gets Hit by Hanging Chair, Viral Video Sparks Debate (WATCH)