The head of the Suez Canal Authority, Osama Rabie, announced that the sunken tugboat “Fahd” has been successfully recovered by the “Enkaz” rescue crane and the canal’s navigational passage is now clear.
Adm. Ossama Rabiee, Chairman and Managing Director of the Suez Canal Authority, has announced today that the recovery operation of the sunken tugboat FAHD by the SCA crane INKAZ was successful, and that the waterway is now clear. This announcement has been made while H.E. pic.twitter.com/hFqLyNaOTb
— هيئة قناة السويس Suez Canal Authority (@SuezAuthorityEG) August 8, 2023
Rabie praised the efforts of the marine rescue team and all workers from the various departments who combined their efforts to complete the rescue work within record time, without impacting navigation in the Suez Canal.
The team recovering the tugboat faced various challenges, he noted, including the intensity of water currents and the lack of visibility underwater alongside diving at great depths up to 27 meters.
Rabie explained that the process of lifting and removing the tugboat required several procedures: beginning with surveying the area of the accident to locate the sunken tugboat, then securing the location of the locomotive with warnings and guiding buoys to enable the passing ships to resume crossing safely.
Lifting the sunken tugboat started after making the necessary salvage calculations.
The head of the authority assured that the site of the recovery of the sunken tugboat was secured against possible oil spill accidents.
He confirmed that the navigation movement in the canal operates regularly from both directions and was not impacted by the rescue work.
Over the course of Monday and Tuesday the canal saw the crossing of 146 ships from both directions, carrying a total net tonnage of 8.4 million tons.
