Spokesman: Vessel runs aground, briefly blocking Suez Canal

CAIRO (AP) — An oil tanker ran aground Wednesday in Egypt’s Suez Canal, briefly blocking the global waterway, an official said.

The Singaporean-flagged Affinity V vessel had become wedged in a single-lane stretch of the canal, said George Safwat, a spokesman for Suez Canal Authority.

He told a government-affiliated Extra News satellite television the authority that operates the canal deployed tugboats and managed to refloat the vessel.

Safwat said the vessel was coming from Portugal and heading to Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea port of Yanbu. He said the vessel was part of a convoy heading the Red Sea.

The Suez Canal transits two convoys everyday; One north-bound to the Mediterranean and the other south-bound to the Red Sea.