Videos are being circulated on social media claiming that ships, people, and even islands are mysteriously disappearing in the Sea of Azov. The authors of these videos allege that an empty yacht washed ashore with ten people missing, and that the sea has been overrun by whirlpools and jellyfish unusual for the area. VoxCheck explained how this conspiracy theory works.

The so-called “evidence” being shared is part of conspiratorial content created to manipulate viewers. The video of the yacht allegedly washed up on the shore of the Sea of Azov was not filmed in Ukraine, but in the United States, in Florida, in 2016. According to police, the 63-year-old owner of the vessel, Thomas Baker, was intoxicated, crashed into the shore, and then abandoned the boat. For the fake video, a clip from a news report by the TV channel WPBF was used and simply mirrored to make it harder to verify its origin.

The so-called “water whirlpools” are also unrelated to the Sea of Azov. The footage was filmed in a different location – as evidenced by the coastal relief, which is not characteristic of the Azov region. The same video had previously been circulated as supposedly showing the Sea of Japan.

Claims about “quicksands” on the seabed of the Sea of Azov are also false. The coastal zone is covered with sand and shells, while clayey silt predominates in the central part. A person may partially sink into the silt, but cannot fully submerge or “drown” – buoyant force prevents this.

Another element of the fake is the story about the “anomalous” appearance of jellyfish. In reality, this has a natural explanation. Since 2021, the number of jellyfish in the Sea of Azov has been increasing due to rising salinity caused by the shallowing of the Don and Kuban rivers, pollution, and climate change. Water salinity has increased from 10–12‰ to 14‰, leading to the disappearance of some freshwater species and the spread of organisms adapted to saltier conditions.