By AFP

CAIRO: Three people were killed and a dozen others injured when a tugboat engine exploded in Egypt’s Suez Canal on Monday, security officials said.

Movement in the vital waterway that links the Mediterranean to the Red Sea was not affected, the officials said.

The engine of the tugboat exploded during maintenance work, setting off a huge fire on the vessel in the shipyard of the Suez Canal Authority.

“More than 10 people were injured by the fire, suffering from varying degrees of burns,” one official said, adding all those injured had been taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.