Marwa Elselehdar is Egypt's first female ship captain.
Online rumors and fake news headlines blamed her for the Ever Given grounding, she told the BBC.
Elselehdar was 200 miles away from the incident when it occurred, the BBC reported.
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Egypt's first female ship captain was blamed for the Suez Canal blockage despite having been hundreds of miles away from the incident, she told BBC News.
Marwa Elselehdar said that she saw online rumors accusing her of being responsible for the Ever Given container ship becoming beached, the media outlet reported.
The BBC reported that at the time of the jam, Elselehdar was working as a first mate on the Aida IV in Alexandria — more than 200 miles away from the site of the collision.
An investigation is underway to explain the Ever Given's grounding, but it is clear that the 29-year-old was not to blame.
Read more: The 4 biggest losers of the Suez Canal fiasco — and 4 surprising winners
Rumors circulating online about Elselehdar's supposed culpability were made worse by the sharing of screenshots of fake news headlines, BBC News reported.
Social-media accounts also impersonated her and spread false claims putting the blame on her, the media outlet said.
"I felt that I might be targeted maybe because I'm a successful female in this field or because I'm Egyptian, but I'm not sure," Elselehdar told the BBC.
Elselehdar described how she was "shocked" when she first saw the accusations on her phone.
The rumors concerned her. "I tried so hard to negate what was in the article because it was affecting my reputation and all the efforts I exerted to be where I am now," she told the BBC.
A post shared by Marwa Elselehdar💫مروة السلحدار (@marwa.elselehdar)
Elselehdar is one of the few women in the male-dominated shipping industry.
In 2016, she became the youngest and first female Egyptian captain to cross the Suez Canal. A year later, she was honored by Egypt's president during Egypt's Women's Day celebrations, the BBC said.
She hopes that her career, despite this setback, inspires other women to break into the industry.
"My message to females who want to be in the maritime field is fight for what you love and not let any negativity affect you," she told the BBC.
TheLizardKing89 on April 5th, 2021 at 02:04 UTC »
If she can make a ship crash from 200 miles away, I bet some navies would be very interested in that ability.
reb0014 on April 4th, 2021 at 22:36 UTC »
Gotta say, as far as excuses go, being 200 miles away is a pretty valid one
buddha_abusa on April 4th, 2021 at 21:39 UTC »
Somebody made photoshopped newspaper headlines that looked real and blamed her for the incident. Since the fake news articles were in English (as opposed to Arabic), they were able to circulate around the world. She literally had no involvement at all.