The effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz because of the Middle East war has squeezed energy supplies in imported oil-dependent Bangladesh, but images circulating online that purportedly show motorists sleeping in long lines at petrol stations are AI-generated. While filling stations in the South Asian nation have seen long lines, the circulating images contain numerous visual errors that are tell-tale signs of synthetic content.

"Hundreds of motorcycles lined up in queues upon receiving news that fuel would arrive late at night. But many of them slept at the filling station when it was announced that it would take another three to four hours to get the fuel," reads a Bengali-language Facebook post shared on March 29, 2026.

An accompanying image appears to show dozens of motorcycles parked in lines for the petrol pumps, while other motorcyclists sleep on their bikes under mosquito nets nearby.

Similar images were shared elsewhere on Facebook in posts claiming they showed motorists sleeping as they waited for fuel.

The posts circulated as the Strait of Hormuz -- through which roughly a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas usually transits -- was effectively closed by Iran in retaliation to the joint US-Israeli military campaign against the Islamic republic starting February 28.

The disruption to global energy supplies has seen fuel shortages and rising prices in Bangladesh, which imports 95 percent of its oil and gas.

The South Asian nation of 170 million people has started fuel rationing, sent students home and scrapped celebratory light displays over the energy crunch (archived link). The shortages have sparked unrest, with the military deployed to major oil depots and police patrolling filling stations where long queues have formed (archived link).

But the circulating images do not show the situation at fuel pumps in Bangladesh.

A closer examination of the circulating images shows they contain visual errors that suggest they are AI-generated content.

In the first falsely shared image, a part of the Bengali signboard's text looks distorted, while the limbs of staff members and the faces of motorists appear to be missing or warped.

Additionally, the secretary of the state-owned Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC), Shahina Sultana told AFP on April 1: "No filling station in Bangladesh bears the name of Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation, which is unusually visible in the image" (archived link).

The BPC is responsible for oil imports and the operation and maintenance of energy infrastructure in Bangladesh, but does not sell directly to consumers.

She also said that lines of motorists stranded and sleeping at stations had not been reported.

The second falsely shared image also contains visual errors, such as drivers with misshapen limbs and fuel pumps that are not connected to any hoses.

The filling station's purported name and address is also visible in this image, showing it is supposedly located along the Dhaka-Khulna Highway at the Sreenagar area of Munshiganj, a town on the outskirts of the capital Dhaka (archived link).

However, it does not match Google Street View imagery of the genuine station. The shape of the station's pillars, placement of its pumps and the design of its kiosk are all different (archived link).

The third falsely shared image, besides the number of motorbikes vastly exceeding the number of people sleeping at the petrol station, also contains visual errors such as distorted faces and pumps not being connected to hoses.

Further analysis of the images using the Hive Moderation detector tool also found there is a high probability that they were all AI-generated.

AFP has debunked other misinformation stemming from the Middle East war.