Suez Canal salvage teams were alternating between dredging and tugging today to dislodge a massive container ship blocking the busy waterway.
Efforts had reportedly been complicated by rock under the ship's bow.
Meanwhile, vessels are seen waiting to pass in the Suez Canal, as the ship is stuck in the canal for the sixth consecutive day.
Dredgers working to dislodge the stranded vessel have so far shifted 35,000 cubic yards of sand, to a depth of 60 feet, and the Suez Canal Authority said efforts would continue around the clock according to wind conditions and tides.
Egypt's president has ordered preparations for the possible removal of some of the ship's 18,300 containers.
Any operation to lighten the ship's load was not planned to start before tomorrow.
The quarter-mile-long ever given became jammed diagonally across a southern section of the canal in high winds more than five days ago, halting shipping traffic in one of the world's busiest waterways.
At least 369 boats are waiting to transit the canal.
About 15 percent of world shipping traffic transits the Suez Canal, which is a key source of foreign currency revenues for Egypt.
The current stoppage is costing the canal about $15 million daily.
