Suez Canal closed as bad weather hits Egypt

[senorpepr]

PORT SAID, Egypt (AFP) - The Suez Canal was closed for some 12 hours as bad weather struck Egypt, preventing dozens of ships from passing through the vital waterway and causing the death of at least 13 people, a port official said here.

Traffic was suspended from around 2:00 am (1200 GMT) Friday, blocking nearly 30 ships at the northern end at Port Said because of the strength of the wind and the height of the waves.

The official MENA news agency said traffic was resumed around 2:00 pm Friday after moderation of the conditions which had reduced visibility to 50 metres (yards), while the wind speed reached 43 knots (80 kilometres/50 miles per hour).

A total of 34 ships were given the green light to pass through the 195-kilometre (120-mile) long canal from either direction.

Six pilgrims heading for the holy Muslim city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia for the annual hajj were killed Friday when their bus hit a truck in poor visibility in the Sinai south of Al-Arish.

The driver of the bus, which was carrying 39 pilgrims, was also killed and 14 people were injured, police said.

Six people were killed and another 42 hurt Thursday in traffic accidents around Egypt, as the country was swept by heavy rains and sandstorms that also forced traffic to be diverted from Cairo airport, reports said.

Among the dead was a married couple and their two children, who were killed in Ismailiya, on the Suez Canal, when their car collided with a bus in heavy rains, state news agency MENA reported.

The weather, with sandstorms in places reducing visibility to zero, led authorities to close down roads in the Suez region to prevent accidents.

Eighteen internal flights were cancelled or postponed from Cairo airport, but international flights were not affected.

Aswan and Abu Simbel in the south, centres of Egypt's vital tourism industry, were closed on Friday, while air traffic was disrupted at Luxor and Assyut in the south, Mersah Matruh in the north west, Al Arish in the north east, Sharm el-Sheikh in the east and Alexandria in the north.