WHAT IS THE TRUTH?

While #OperationEpicFury is a real, recently launched military operation taking place in the Middle East, the person spreading this fake news has simply taken a real trending hashtag and attached unrelated footage to it to create a fabricated story.

The images circulating online show ships on fire, but they do not match any verified report of a US Navy vessel attacked in Rio de Janeiro.

Based on the visual analysis of ship, on the left appears to be an auxiliary or support-type vessel with a helicopter-capable rear deck and crane structure, which are common on logistics or offshore support ships rather than armed warships. The ship on the right clearly matches the design of a commercial tanker or cargo vessel, with a high bow and anchor fittings typical of merchant ships.

LINK

To further clarify we researched to find that the ship shown on fire is not a US military vessel at all. The footage actually shows a massive fire on a commercial oil tanker named the Adalynn. This incident took place on June 17, 2025, after the Adalynncollided with another cargo vessel, the Front Eagle, near the Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf of Oman.

At the time of the crash, the Front Eagle was loaded with two million barrels of Iraqi crude oil, which fueled the massive blaze seen in the video. Fortunately, all 24 crew members aboard the Adalynn were safely evacuated by the UAE Coast Guard.

CONCLUSION

This claim is completely misleading. There was no such drone attack in Rio de Janeiro, and "#OperationEpicFury" is a fabricated military operation in that location. The person behind the post has simply taken old, unrelated videos of ship fires and woven a fake story around them.