Suez Canal traffic disrupted after ship runs aground

Traffic through Egypt's Suez Canal has been disrupted since 0800 GMT on Tuesday after a ship ran aground due to engine failure in bad weather, a maritime source said.

"A cargo ship ran aground due to an engine malfunction in the southern sector of the canal, blocking five ships behind it," the source said.

The source could not specify when traffic would resume.

Five of Egypt's Red Sea ports were also closed on Tuesday due to bad weather, a spokesman for the Red Sea Ports Authority said.

"We have closed ports ... due to the increase of wind speed to 40 knots per hour, lack of visibility, and high waves reaching 3 metres," said the spokesman, Salah al-Hashem, adding that the ports would be opened once the weather improved.

The closed ports include Nuweiba, Port Tawfik and Adabiya.

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