Cargo ship breaks down in Egypt's Suez Canal, traffic is not disrupted

A cargo ship broke down in Egypt's Suez Canal on Wednesday and crashed into a bridge over the crucial waterway, authorities said, adding that the incident did not disrupt traffic through the canal.

Adm. Ossama Rabei, head of the Suez Canal Authority, said the Singapore-flagged One Orpheus went off course after its rudder broke down before ploughing into the Mansi Bridge, near the port city of Ismailia. The extent of the damage to both the ship and the bridge is unclear.

The incident happened in a newly expanded section of the waterway, where there are two separate shipping lanes, Rabei said in a statement issued by the authority.

He said four tugboats have been dispatched to move the cargo ship, which was traveling north through the canal, on its way from Singapore to the Netherlands. Following the incident, all ships started using the second, original shipping lane.

The incident was the latest of several such accidents in the crucial waterway. A number of ships have either run aground or broken down in the Suez Canal over the past few years.