Canal closed until Friday
The Corinth Canal, one of Greece’s landmarks, will remain closed to ships until Friday, the company operating the passage said yesterday as work began to clear debris from a landslide. Periandros SA said that about 5,000 cubic meters of debris fell into the canal early on Sunday. As a result, parts of the canal, which opened in 1893, are now too shallow for ships to pass through. Some 11,000 vessels sail through the canal each year. A special floating crane began clearing rocks and earth from the seabed yesterday. The depth of the canal, which is 6.3 kilometers long and about 24 meters wide, is normally about 8 meters. Officials said that landslides are known to happen in the canal because there are a number of geological fault lines in the area, which is west of Athens. A landslide in 1923, when some 41,000 cubic meters of debris fell into the canal, led to the passage being closed for two years.
