Egypt: The marine traffic in one of the most important waterways of the world was brought to a halt on Wednesday as a container ship ran aground in the Suez Canal after a gust of wind blew it off course. All attempts to refloat the 400 meter (1900 foot) long ‘Ever Given’ failed after it got stuck, causing a traffic jam of vessels.

The Suez Canal links the Mediterranean with the Red Sea and shipping lanes to Asia, making it one of the most important waterways in the world.

Photo: Map showing how the Ever Given ship is blocking the Suez Canal. (Credit: Twitter/@jsrailton)

A photo showed the Taiwan-owned MV Ever Given lodged sideways and blocking all traffic across the waterway while excavation trucks struggled to dig it out. The Evergreen is one of the largest container ships in operation.

“Latest update: the EVER GIVEN is… still ever-jammed across the #SuezCanal. Also, a teeny excavator tried to help,” tweeted John Scott-Railton early morning on Wednesday.

(Photo: Twitter/@jsrailton)

(Photo: Twitter/@jsrailton)

An hour later, John said in another tweet, “How soon till one of the big Dutch salvage companies shows up for an ultra-premium re-floating?

In another update around 3.30 am, he tweeted a photo of the stuck container ship, in which it could be clearly seen that it is completely blocking the canal.

“Update: still stuck. How big is this #SuezCanal plug? Ultra big. MV #EVERGIVEN
Size: 400m long / 59m wide Gross tonnage: 219,079 Capacity: 20,388 TEUs (20ft container equivalents). One of the largest container ships in operation,” he said in the tweet.