Egypt's first female ship's captain says she was wrongly blamed for Suez blockage

Authored by telegraph.co.uk and submitted by HawkspurReturns
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Egypt’s first female ship captain says she was subject to a fake news campaign blaming her for grounding the Ever Given container ship in the Suez Canal, despite at the time working on a ship that was hundreds of miles away.

Marwa Elselehdar was working as a first mate in command of the Aida IV in Alexandria when the 220,000 ton Ever Given got stuck, blocking one of the world’s busiest shipping routes for six days.

The 29-year-old is a celebrated feminist figure in Egypt. In 2015 she became both the youngest and the first female Egyptian captain to cross the newly-expanded Suez Canal.

Two years later she was honoured by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi during women’s day celebrations. Her Instagram - a collection of motivational messages and her life on board - boasts over 30,000 followers.

But when the Ever Given became an online sensation, a rumour mill was telling the world that she was to blame.

"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," she told the BBC.

marck1022 on April 6th, 2021 at 09:04 UTC »

“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,” she said.

Uh, I’ll wager “both” for $10,000, Alex

Guy-Inkognito on April 6th, 2021 at 07:54 UTC »

Wah - this infuriates me so much. Like half a day after the news broke about the ship I already saw a "meme" where you see the ship and then a female captain in the second image.

That is bad enough as it is but this becoming a reality for the first female Egyptian captain makes me want to tear my hair out.

lardbeetle on April 6th, 2021 at 06:27 UTC »

No, uhh, um, she totally did it, uhh, with her evil womanly powers

...of teleportation