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If you thought blocking the Suez Canal was a cock-up – wait till you see that ship’s GPS drawing

Oonagh Keating. Updated March 25th, 2021

We can’t believe there’s anyone left who doesn’t know there’s an enormous cargo ship wedged across the Suez Canal, but we live in interesting times, so here’s the catch-up.

On Tuesday, the 400m-long Ever Given suffered a blackout, which prevented it from steering out of a shift off course, possibly caused by a gust of wind, resulting in it becoming wedged diagonally across the crucial shipping lane.

That’s one expensive gust.

Naturally, it was too huge – both metaphorically and physically – to ignore, resulting in a flood of piss-taking tweets.

However, in a plot twist that seems so fitting for 2021, it was an even bigger cock-up than we first thought.

People who know about these things insist it’s a perfectly reasonable holding pattern, leaving the question ‘Holding what?’ hanging ominously.

If the first story had been the shot – this was the chaser.

These reactions perfectly captured the mood.

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Perhaps inevitably, this happened –

from Omg GIFs via Gfycat

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Having a bad day? At least you haven’t wedged a container ship across the Suez Canal

Source John Scott-Railton Image Suez Canal Authority John Scott-Railton