PORT SAID, Egypt - The Suez Canal was closed early Friday as bad weather struck Egypt, preventing dozens of ships from passing through the vital waterway, a port official said here.
Traffic was suspended from around 2:00 am (1200 GMT), blocking nearly 30 ships at the northern end at Port Said because of the strength of the wind and the height of the waves.
An unspecified number was stuck at the southern end of the 195-kilometre (120-mile) long canal.
Officials said the waterway would be reopened when the weather improves, which meterologists said might not be till Monday.
Six people were killed and another 42 hurt Thursday in traffic accidents around Egypt, as the country was swept by heavy rains and sandstorms that also forced traffic to be diverted from Cairo airport, reports said.
Among the dead was a married couple and their two children, who were killed in Ismailiya, on the Suez Canal, when their car collided with a bus in heavy rains, state news agency MENA reported.
The weather, with sandstorms in places reducing visibility to zero, led authorities to close down roads in the Suez region to prevent accidents.
Fifteen flights were turned away from the main international airport in Cairo and forced to land at Hurghada, on the Red Sea, airport sources said.
Airports were also closed in the northern Mediterranean city of Alexandria as well as in the southern Nile river communities of Aswan, Asyut and Abu Simbel, the sources added.
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