Cairo: Traffic through Egypt's Suez Canal was disrupted for four hours on Tuesday after a ship ran aground because of engine failure in bad weather, an official maritime source said.
"A cargo ship ran aground due to an engine malfunction in the southern sector of the canal, blocking five ships behind it," the source said.
An official from the Suez Canal Authority said shipping returned to normal at 1200 GMT after the ship, and another that ran aground later, were freed and moved.
A union official said some employees in the office of canal authority chairman Ahmed Fadel had gone on strike, joining a wave of popular protests that has gripped Egypt. He said this had not affected the normal functioning of the canal.
Five of Egypt's Red Sea ports were closed on Tuesday because of bad weather, a spokesman for the Red Sea Ports Authority said.
