Suez Canal tugboat Fahd (IMO 7430474) sank on Saturday August 5th, with one of its crew going missing,after it collided with LPG tanker Chinagas Legend (IMO 9847944). Chinagas Legend did not appear to have suffered any damage in the collision. The body of the missing crew member, a mechanic, was later found by divers in the cabin of the sunken tug.
The Chinagas Legend is waiting in Port Said at the northern end of the canal until the completion of procedures related to the accident, SCA head Osama Rabie said. The dead crew member, Sayed Moussa, was a mechanic from Port Said, his family said.
Six other crew members were rescued and taken to hospital. Their condition was reported to be stable. Efforts were under way to recover the tugboat, with buoys marking its position, the SCA said.
The recovery of the sunken tugboat was scheduled to begin after the transit of the last vessel of the convoy.
Traffic was largely unaffected, Suez Canal Authority (SCA) said. Convoys of ships passing through the canal from the north were not affected at all, while the passage of ships travelling from the south returned to normal by about midnight on Saturday.
On August 6th divers from the SCA’s marine rescue team were working to secure eight wires to the wreck, which was resting in a 24-metre-deep section of the canal. Securing each wire took about 90 minutes.
After the wires were attached, the wreck of the tug was scheduled to be lifted out by a specialized crane, which has a lifting capacity of 500 tons. The salvage work was not impeding navigation in the canal.
1976-built, Egypt-flagged, 249 gt Fahd is owned and managed by the Suez Canal Authority.
2020-built, Hong Kong-flagged, 48,894 gt Chinagas Legend is owned by China Gas Fortune Legend Ltd care of manager China Gas Fortune Marine Trans of Hong Kong, China. ISM manager is Wah Kwong Ship management HK of Hong Kong, China. As of August 7th the vessel remained at anchor off Port Said.