Indian crew on cargo ship stuck in Suez canal is safe: Report

The Taiwan-owned MV 'Ever Given' (Evergreen) container ship, a 400-metre- (1,300-foot-)long and 59-metre wide vessel, lodged sideways and impeding all traffic across the waterway of Egypt's Suez Canal (AFP) — The Taiwan-owned MV 'Ever Given' (Evergreen) container ship, a 400-metre- (1,300-foot-)long and 59-metre wide vessel, lodged sideways and impeding all traffic across the waterway of Egypt's Suez Canal **(AFP)**

2 min read . Updated: 26 Mar 2021, 11:22 AM IST Elizabeth Roche

The ship had two pilots from Egypt’s canal authority aboard the vessel to guide it when the grounding happened around 7:45 am Tuesday

NEW DELHI: The huge cargo ship wedged across one of the world’s busiest waterways, Egypt’s Suez Canal, has an all Indian crew on board, who are safe, said a report in the Time magazine, published late Thursday.

Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement, the company that manages the Ever Given that is stuck in the canal, has said the ship’s 25-member crew are safe and accounted for.

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The ship’s Japanese owner Shoei Kisen Kaisha has been quoted by the report as saying that all the crew came from India. The ship had two pilots from Egypt’s canal authority aboard the vessel to guide it when the grounding happened around 7:45 am Tuesday, Bernhard Schulte Ship management said, according to the report.

The Ever Given is a Panama-flagged ship that carries cargo between Asia and Europe. It ran aground Tuesday in the narrow, man-made canal dividing continental Africa from the Sinai Peninsula.

Since Tuesday, efforts to free the ship using dredgers, digging and the aid of high tides are yet to show result. This is affecting billions of dollars’ worth of cargo that passes through the canal.

“So far, dredgers have tried to clear silt around the massive ship. Tug boats nudged the vessel alongside it, trying to gain momentum. From the shore, at least one backhoe dug into the canal’s sandy banks, suggesting the bow of the ship had plowed into it. However, satellite photos taken Thursday by Planet Labs Inc. and analyzed by The Associated Press showed the vessel still stuck in the same location," the Time magazine report said.

Suez Canal service provider Leth Agencies was quoted by the report as saying that at least 150 ships were waiting for the Ever Given to be cleared. Given that the canal is used by ships ferrying fuel as well as other cargo, news reports have expressed concerns over the impact of the blockade on international oil prices that has seen quite a bit of volatility recently.

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