Suez Canal: not yet released, the giant container ship has started to move
Still blocking the Suez Canal, the container ship Ever Given was not yet afloat on March 29, 2021. AP - Â © Maxar Technologies
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The container ship Ever Given, which has been blocking the Suez Canal for nearly a week, began to move on Monday, following the intervention of tugs.
It is "80% in the right direction", according to the authority of the Canal, but not yet afloat.
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With our correspondent in Cairo,
Alexandre Buccanti
The Ever Given was refloated at daybreak.
It can be seen being towed to the middle of the waterway which is 250 meters wide.
It has been put 80% in the "
right direction
"
, the Canal Authority said on Monday.
The boat has been "
turned
", but is not yet floating, added its owner.
The rescue of the ship
could therefore still go on.
It is thanks to the effort of ten tugs pushing and towing at the bow and at the stern that the giant 220,000-ton container ship was able to gradually move and disengage itself from the bank where it had sunk.
It has been blocking the Suez Canal for almost a week.
A successful job thanks to the dredging of more than 30,000 cubic meters of sand and gravel under the bow and stern of the 400-meter vessel.
The Suez Canal Authority tugs took advantage of the high tide overnight to pull and push the ship until the giant partially freed itself.
Animals in danger of death
It is now necessary to ensure that the Ever Given did not suffer damage below the waterline as a result of the accident and the refloating.
In any case, we must go quickly, alert some.
The ship's blockage still affects the more than 130,000 animals trapped behind Ever Given on board dozens of cattle cargos from Romania and Spain.
Living conditions are deteriorating day after day for animals which are in danger of death, warns the NGO Compassion in World Farming, an NGO for the defense of animal welfare.
The situation could deteriorate very quickly.
Peter Stevenson, Compassion in World Farming Policy Advisor
►
To read also: Suez Canal: a "human error" could be at the origin of the grounding
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