In view of the recent sinking of a cargo ship carrying a large consignment of bitumen off Port Tawfiq, the regulations for the passage of ships through the Suez Canal ought urgently to be revised. This mishap suggests laxity on the part of the Egyptian Government and the Suez Canal Authority. They shouldn't have allowed an antiquated vessel to sail through Egypt's territorial waters, especially as it was carrying dangerous, radioactive material, classified as a 'Class A' hazard, according to a senior official in the Ministry of Environment. Mahmoud Ismail, the head of the Environment Ministry's Crisis Management Department, told the press that radioactive material should be transported by air, not by sea, because of the danger of piracy. But we shouldn't allow radioactive material through our canal anyway, because of the danger of ships sinking and the environmental threat this poses. Thankfully, all the sunken bitumen (around 7,000 barrels) has been salvaged, along with the ship, while investigators and environmental specialists are inspecting the vicinity of the accident in case there has been some environmental damage. Hopefully, the speeding salvaging of the barrels and vessel has prevented an environmental disaster, but we should take extra precautions to prevent something similar happening again. The least we can do, as the environmental official suggested, is to follow the example of the United States, which doesn't allow any vessel that has been operating for more than 20 years to use its ports or waterways. We should also be stricter about the kind of goods ships allowed to carry through our waters, in order to prevent an environmental disaster – whether an accidental one or an intentional one caused by our enemies.
