A series of images showing a giant snake loaded onto a truck has circulated online for several years. An associated story tells of a massive snake which killed 320 tourists and 125 divers in Egypt. Are the images and the story real?
It is a hoax.
Let’s first take a look at the story which has circulated since at least 2012.
AMAZING GIANT SNAKE . Found in the Red Sea that killed 320 tourists and 125 Egyptian diver, and has been the killed by a professional team of elite Egyptian scientists and qualified divers in Egypt. Names of scientists who participated in the process of catching the huge snake were: D. Karim Mohammed, d. Mohammed Sharif, d. Mr. Sea, d. Mahmoud students, d. Mazen Al-Rashidi. And the names of divers who participated in the process of catching the huge snake were: Ahmed leader, Abdullah Karim, fisherman Knight, Wael Mohammed, Mohammed Haridi, spears Alvajuma, Mahmoud Shafik, a full-Sharif. The Snake body has been transferred to in the Egypt morgue at Sharm El Sheikh international animal.
Not News
The discovery of such a massive creature would certainly be headline news around the world, yet no major news organization ever reported this snake or the associated killings as described above. The only websites we found reporting this story have done so without citing any corroborating sources. Those who believe the photo to be real point to the fact that Google will return several sites reporting this story. The problem is that all of these sites are merely referencing the lone story about the snake, and none of the sites reporting it are reputable news services. A few bloggers have repeated the narrative verbatim, which is not sufficient proof as to the veracity of the report.
Not a single Egyptian news organization has reported this supposed massive creature and loss of life. There have also been no follow-up stories or photos in the three years since we first published this article.
The images
Upon closer inspection, the images of the “massive snake” appear to be that of a real snake on a toy truck. This staged scene appears to have been photographed at close range, giving the appearance that the snake is very large. The photos are usually circulated in a very low quality format, which makes it difficult to discern if the photo is real or not. We were able to locate a higher-resolution version, however, and when you view these high-res images, it becomes obvious that this is nothing more than a toy truck and toy soldiers alongside what appears to be an ordinary snake.
First, let’s look at the low-res images circulating around the internet. The poor quality makes it difficult to tell if the photos are real or not.
Now let’s take a look at a higher-resolution image, where it becomes apparent that the truck and soldiers are simply toys.
Largest Snakes in the World
According to National Geographic, the largest snakes in the world are anacondas, which can grow up to about 550 pounds. The snake depicted above would weigh many tons and is far larger than the largest snakes ever discovered.
Search History
The graph below shows Google’s history for the search terms giant snake red sea. There were two initial surges in interest in August 2012 (when this article was first published) and again in April 2013. Since, then interest in the fake photos and story have remained minimal but constant.
Bottom Line
The story and photos which allegedly show a giant snake captured in the Red Sea are fake. It appears that a real snake was photographed on a toy truck along with toy soldiers, and a fake back-story was fabricated and circulated with the set of photos. We first published this story in August 2012, and it has continued to circulate ever since.
Updated January 14, 2016
Originally published August 2012
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