Admiral Osssama Rabiee, chairman and managing director of the Suez Canal Authority (left) is briefed on efforts to get better the sunken Suez Canal tugboat Fahd. [Photo: Suez Canal Authority]
A salvage crew yesterday recovered the physique of a crew member from a Suez Canal tugboat that sank after a deadly collision with a fuel tanker transiting the canal.
The incident occurred Saturday when the Suez Canal Authority tugboat Fahd was in a collision with the Wah Kwong managed, Hong Kong registered, LPG tanker Chinagas Fortune when it was within the canal’s south convoy en route from Singapore to the United States. The collision resulted in injury to the hull of the tugboat, with water flooding in and resulting in its eventual sinking.
Admiral Osssama Rabiee, chairman and managing director of the Suez Canal Authority says {that a} salvage crew and the salvage crane Inkaz have been deployed to the scene. Though six of the tugboat’s seven crew have been rescued and hospitalized, the physique of the seventh, chief mechanic El-Sayed Ali Mohamed Mousa, was recovered by divers. It was present in a collection of consecutive dives to survey the cabins of the Suez Canal tugboat, which is submerged at a depth of 24 meters.
Traffic on the canal has resumed in each instructions and, as of yesterday, says newspaper Al Ahram, divers have been working to safe eight wires to the tugboat wreck to allow it to be lifted by the salvage crane.
The Suez Canal has stated little concerning the precise circumstances of the collision, however Admiral Rabiee stated {that a} detailed report about the reason for the incident and the situation of the crew members is at the moment being ready.
The Chinagas Fortune is at the moment anchored at Port-Said till incident-related measures are accomplished.
Built by the Bodewes Binnenvaart shipyard in 1974, the 34.3 meter, 36 tonnes bollard pull Fahd is listed by the Suez Canal Authority as an escort and firefighting tug.
