A video of a shelter used to protect workers in hazardous environments has been incorrectly tagged on social media, with users claiming it is a shipping container used for human trafficking.
In the video (here) the person filming walks to the metal container and turns the door open.
Inside, there are two rows of seats against the walls and a yellow checkpoint with the words “mineARC” sitting at the end of the room.
“Many containers are made for human transport!”, Claims one post sharing the video. ‘Be prepared [sic] for what is now going to be exposed to the Evergreen in Suez Canal! ”
Followers of the QAnon conspiracy theory have previously made unfounded allegations linking the Ever Given, a giant container ship that blocked the Egyptian Suez Canal for nearly a week, to human trafficking (here).
In the comments section, users agreed that the video demonstrates how “the victims of trafficking are transported”.
But the container shown in the video is not used for shipping.
On actual use, the container door indicates the words “REFUGE CHAMBER” and “mineSAFE”.
MineARC, which describes itself as a “world leader in controlled environments” for industries such as mining (minearc.com/), has developed a so-called “refuge” called MineSAFE (here).
A room like the one seen in the video can be seen on the MineARC website (here).
As explained on the company’s website, a shelter is used to protect workers from hazards ranging from explosions to the release of toxic gas, and is used in emergencies when evacuation is no longer considered “safe or practical”. (here).
The Reuters fact-checking team dismissed other false allegations about the Ever Given (here) and (here).
VERDICT
Untrue. The video shows a “refuge container” used to protect miners from hazardous environments, not a shipping container.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our work to actually check social media posts.