A Suez Canal tugboat has sunk after colliding with a Hong Kong-flagged LPG tanker in the strategically important waterway, the canal authority said on Saturday and a tugboat crew member died, his family said.
The tanker, Chinagas Legend, is waiting in Port Said, Egypt until the completion of procedures related to the accident, canal authority head Osama Rabie said in a statement.
Two canal sources said Chinagas Legend was unharmed by the collision, was functioning normally and had anchored at Port Said. The diseased crew member, Sayed Moussa, was a mechanic from Port Said.
Rabie said seven people had been on board the tugboat Fahd and that rescue work was under way, with a crane dispatched to recover the sunken vessel, while the other six tugboat crew members had been rescued and taken to hospital.
The tanker, which was heading south on its journey from Singapore to the United States, is 230 metres (755ft) long and 36 metres (118ft) wide, and carries a cargo of 52,000 metric tons of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).
China ABC Flash Point News 2023.
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