The story "Google Earth Finds Woman Trapped on Deserted Island for Seven Years" might be a hoax, but the woman, Gemma Sheridan, is not.
Sheridan is the central character in a story published by News-Hound.org. The website published a story claiming that Google Earth found Sheridan, who was trapped on an island for around seven years.
The story was declared a hoax by Waffles at Noon, but the central character Sheridan exists in real life.
Sheridan told International Business Times that News-Hound.org is run by her friends. The website makes up stories and publishes them on their page.
Sheridan also said that her friends made up that particular story on her as a joke.
"Hi Howard My friend owns newshound so I think they may have made this up about me as a joke haha," she Tweeted on 21 March.
In the story, News-hound.org stated that Sheridan along with two friends left her hometown Liverpool, England, in 2007 to sail to the island of Hawaii, but due to a storm, she drifted to some nearby island.
Google Earth was apparently able to find the British woman when a kid saw the "SOS" message created by Sheridan.
However, Waffles at Noon reported that the "SOS" sign in the story is apparently a satellite image of destruction in Kyrgyzstan. The image was initially uploaded three years ago on Amnesty International's blog. [Read the full story here]
This is not the first time the website has posted a hoax story. Earlier, the site published an article with the headline "Planetary Alignment Decreases Gravity - Float For 5 Minutes! #Zerogday", which is also a fake.
