Vessel runs aground, briefly blocking Suez Canal

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 a spokesman for Suez Canal Authority.

He told a government-affiliated Extra News satellite television authority that operates the canal deployed tugboats and managed to refloat the vessel. He added that it ran aground around 7.15 p.m. local time, and was refloated some five hours later and there was a problem in the vessel's steering systems which caused it to run aground. The Suez Canal transits two convoys everyday: One north-bound to the Mediterranean and the other south-bound to the Red Sea.It was en-route to Port Sudan on the Red Sea, according to Traffic Marine, a vessel tracking firm.