The blockage of the Suez Canal by a mega container ship gave rise to several memes on the internet, however, some of them targeted Egypt’s first female ship captain Marwa Elselehdar, who was working onboard a different vessel, 200 miles away in the city of Alexandria. 

Hours after the ship blocked the canal, online trolls claimed that the captain was responsible for it. Some even shared screenshots of a fake news headline that claimed that she was “involved” in the incident. 

Speaking to BBC, 29-year-old Elselehdar said she has no idea why the story was circulated. 

“I was shocked. 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. 

After getting special permission from former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Elselehdar became the first woman to enrol in the Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport.

After graduating from the institute, she began working for the Egyptian Authority of Marine Safety. She was first placed on a vessel that delivered supplies to a lighthouse in the Red Sea, and once the expansion of Suez Canal was over in 2015, she became the first woman from Egypt to cross the Suez canal as the captain of a ship.